Darlington MP calls for further action to tackle the selling of illegal vapes
Peter Gibson is holding a debate today
Darlington's MP is calling on the Government to do more to tackle the selling of illegal vapes.
Peter Gibson is holding a debate in Westminster today.
He said: "We know that there's some significant issues out in our communities with regards to illegal vapes, underage vapes, disposable vapes and it sits alongside the issues also related to illegal tobacco.
"I wanted to use this debate as an important opportunity to raise the profile of the problems that we have in our community, raise parents' awareness of the damage that's being done to children with them, the damage that's being done to our local economy, to local independent good, legal and legitimate traders and to the exchequer in terms of lost revenue.
"We've already seen a number of traders selling illegal products in our communities close down over the course of the last 18 months, and those organisations are appealing to the public for intelligence and information so that they can clampdown and crackdown on those other illegal traders.
"We know that there's probably somewhere in the region of a dozen stores in the community here in Darlington that are selling these illegal products. They're exploiting children and we know there are connections with organised crime, so it's really important for multiple reasons to clampdown on this trade.
"I'm not the only person in Parliament who's talking about this, there are many others so we need to take some action take place. The Government has already taken some steps."