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** 24 November 2020
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** UK
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** Over half of councils face financial failure without spending review funding increase (#1)
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** West Midlands: Illicit tobacco seized from a site near Dudley (#2)
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** Scotland: More than four million illicit cigarettes seized in Glasgow (#3)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Parliamentary Questions (#4)
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** UK
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**
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** Half of English councils will be at risk of financial failure if the spending review provides a ‘rollover’ of funding levels from this year for 2021/22, new analysis warns.
Research by Grant Thornton UK LLP shows 51% of councils would see their usable reserve levels fall at or below 5% of net revenue expenditure if they receive the same level of funding in 2021/22 as they received in 2020/21. The analysis found London boroughs and metropolitan districts are the most exposed in this scenario, with 72% found to be at risk by 2022/23.
The analysis also reveals that without an increase in funding, local governments would face a funding gap of £5.6 billion in 2021/22.
Source: Local Gov, 23 November 2020
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** More than 30 million illegal cigarettes worth £11.6 million have been found hidden among packets of noodle soup at a distribution centre near Dudley. They were packed onto 120 pallets, each containing around 252,000 cigarettes and stacked eight feet high.
HMRC officers seized the haul on 16 November, one of the largest of its kind, from an industrial unit.
Paul Fisher, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “This is one of the largest inland seizures HMRC has ever made and it required six HGV’s to remove the cigarettes. Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £1.9 billion a year”
Source: Express and Star, 22 November 2020
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** More than four million illicit cigarettes have been seized from a warehouse in Glasgow by HMRC. The cigarettes were stuffed inside cardboard boxes in containers at the premises.
Officers later discovered an illicit tobacco factory in nearby Hamilton and confiscated two industrial mixing machines and a tobacco shredder. Three men have since been charged after officers searched a series of properties and seized £20,000 in cash.
HMRC said “further enquiries” had led them to discover the factory, and that they dismantled and seized all the machines - along with other packaging and 45kg of tobacco. Fifty HMRC officers and eight officers from Police Scotland executed several warrants across Glasgow and Lanarkshire.
Joe Hendry, HMRC Assistant Director of Fraud Investigation Service, said: “This is another example of the combined powers our partners at the Scottish Crime Campus and Serious Organised Crime Taskforce have to disrupt, detect and deter the illicit trade of tobacco and other forms of criminality. Tackling criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market.”
Source: BBC News, 23 November 2020
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** See also: The Scottish Sun - NICKED More than four million illicit cigarettes seized from Glasgow warehouse as ‘tobacco factory’ raided in Hamilton ([link removed] )
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** Parliamentary Activity
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**
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** PQ1: Tobacco: Smuggling
Asked by Emily Thornberry Labour, Islington South and Finsbury
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the imposition of the UK global tariff on imports of finished tobacco products from 1 January 2021 on forecast levels of smuggling of tobacco products into the UK, including counterfeit products.
Answered by Greg Hands, Minister of State Department for International Trade.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) remains committed to promoting compliance and tackling avoidance and evasion. Guidance on how manufacturers and importers of tobacco products can avoid the facilitation of smuggling is available on gov.uk:
[link removed]
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Additionally, to ensure compliance with new customs procedures and controls at the border after transition period ends, on 12 July 2020, the government announced an investment package of £705m.
We will publish more analysis on the UK Global Tariff in the Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) alongside the legislation, as is standard practice.
Source: Hansard, 20 November 2020
[link removed]
PQ2: Tobacco: UK Trade with EU
Asked by Emily Thornberry Labour, Islington South and Finsbury
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the imposition of the UK global tariff on imports of tobacco products from the EU from 1 January 2021, where a Free Trade Agreement includes Rules of Origin requirements that require more than 10 per cent originating leaf.
Answered by Greg Hands, Minister of State Department for International Trade.
The UK Government intends to achieve a Free Trade Agreement with the EU by December 2020.
The UK Global Tariff (UKGT) is tailored to the UK economy and balances the interests of UK consumers and producers. It is a lower tariff regime than the EU’s Common External Tariff. In designing the UKGT, we assessed all available evidence submitted during the public consultation in depth and considered a range of factors, such as the five principles set out in the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018.
More analysis will be published in the Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) alongside the legislation, as is standard practice.
Source: Hansard, 20 November 2020
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