party conference activity

Labour Party

Labour Party Conference took place in Manchester from Saturday 20th to Thursday 24th September. We met with several MPs who are always very supportive of independent shops, including Stephen Hepburn MP (Jarrow,) and Dawn Butler MP (Brent) who has led retailers' calls for proxy purchasing of tobacco to be criminalised. We also spoke to Virenrda Sharma MP (Ealing Southall) and Dr Stephen Ladyman MP (South Thanet) who visited our exhibition stand at the request of a retailer in his constituency.

While at the Labour Party Conference, we attended a fringe meeting at which Dawn Primarolo MP, the Minister for Public Health who is leading the call to ban the display of tobacco, at a fringe event. We used to opportunity to raise concerns that forcing the trade under the counter could lead to an increase in smuggled and counterfeit tobacco, which would make tobacco readily available to smokers of all ages at half the retail price. We also raised concerns over the lack of evidence that banning display would reduce youth smoking, and pointed out that although display of tobacco was banned in Iceland in 2001, youth smoking in that country has not declined. The Minister agreed to meet with retailers from the Tobacco Retailers Alliance to discuss their concerns further.


Conservative Party

The Conservative Party conference was held in Birmingham from Sunday 28th September to Wednesday 1st October. Traditionally the Conservative Party have always been very supportive of small businesses and favour a lighter regulation support, so our message that a ban on the retail display of tobacco would severely impact on independent shops were met with great concern. The Conservatives have also been critical in the past of Labour's 'nanny state' approach to regulation and these concerns were echoed by delegates and MPs at the conference.

We had several high-profile Conservatives visit our stand, including Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve MP (Beaconsfield) and Shadow Justice Minister David Burrowes MP (Enfield Southgate.) We were also fortunate to meet up with several MPs who are staunch supporters of small shops, including Brian Binley MP (Northampton South,) Edward Garnier MP (Harborough) and Nigel Evans MP (Ribble Valley) whose family own a shop.


If you are a retailer and have not yet written to your MP about the effects a display ban would have on your business, please do so! If you need any assistance with this, please call the Tobacco Retailers Alliance on 0800 00 82 82.