New Measures to Tackle Criminal Activity on High Streets
Good news from Parliament!
I know many of my constituents in Nuneaton and the villages have written to me to express their concern about criminal activities in the town centre. I am proudly supporting the Government’s “Shut Down the Dodgy Shops" campaign, to tackle money laundering, organised crime, and other criminal activity on our high streets.
In the Autumn budget, this Government announced a range of provisions to protect our high streets from illicit businesses.
Establishing a dedicated cross-government taskforce to develop an intelligence-led understanding of organised crime on our high streets, design systemic interventions to disrupt money laundering and related criminality and set strategic priorities for future operational activity.
Providing additional funding to enhance Trading Standards capabilities and fund an uplift of at least 45 additional law enforcement officers.
Directing up to £10 million in funding from HMRC to Border Force in 2026‑27 to enhance operational information gathering capabilities ahead of the introduction of the Vaping Product Duty on 1 October 2026 and to support enforcement at the border.
Undertaking additional enforcement activity on high streets, focusing on illicit tobacco and vaping products and more targeted criminal interventions to tackle the most serious fraud and evasion by small businesses, by deploying 350 newly recruited criminal investigators as part of a new team in HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service.
Providing further funding to tackle money laundering by increasing the Economic Crime Levy. This includes funding to boost law enforcement resource and technological capabilities, and for the public-private data-sharing and financial intelligence used to target criminal exploitation of high street businesses.
Last week, the Government introduced a new power for the Home Secretary to amend the maximum duration of closure orders, the maximum extension period, and the overall maximum duration. You can find more information about the amendment here:
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938/stages/20642/motionsandamendments/867
The government is also clear that it must track the flow of cash through these businesses, to combat the illicit activities it funds. The government is:
Developing an Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy with the private sector to target criminal cash and recover proceeds.
Funding the recruitment of 50 additional insolvency service staff within a new Abusive Phoenixism Taskforce to disqualify more rogue directors and will amend the Company Directors Disqualification Act to extend the circumstances in which directors who break the law can be disqualified.
Going after rogue retailers who breach tobacco and vape regulations, by taking the power in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco and vape products.
Legislating to introduce the Vaping Duty Stamps scheme from 1 October 2026, which requires all vaping products manufactured or imported into the UK to have a duty stamp on packaging so illicit products are immediately identifiable.
