BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO AND TOBACCO SMUGGLING

Early day motion 993, tabled 18 July 2000 by Kevin Barron (Labour). Signed by 76 members.

That this House condemns tobacco smuggling and recognises that the current growth of international smuggling undermines the good health policy of tobacco taxes, reduces revenues, impacts on law-abiding retailers and involves organised criminals; further notes with concern the allegations made by the Guardian newspaper's report on 31st January that British American Tobacco condoned tax evasion and exploited the smuggling of billions of cigarettes in a global effort to boost sales in order to lure generations of new smokers and that BAT records show that billions of cigarettes were shipped from their subsidiaries in the US, Venezuela and Brazil to distributors in the free zone of Aruba, an island in the Caribbean just off the coast of Colombia; believes that, in light of these serious allegations, the Health Select Committee report, The Tobacco Industry and the Health Risks of Smoking is both welcome and timely; and urges the Government to support the Committee's recommendation that the allegations need to be looked at independently and that the Department of Trade and Industry should investigate them.

Signatures by party: Labour 53, Liberal Democrat 15, Labour/Co-operative 4, UUP 2, Plaid Cymru 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.