Cigarette display ban will cost us £252m, say shops

SMALL shops are facing a £252million bill to comply with the Government's new tobacco display ban.

Retailers reacted angrily to tough anti-smoking measures unveiled today by Health Secretary Alan Johnson.

These include removing cigarette displays in shops which could cost £5,000 per store.

The Association of Convenience Stores warned the display ban makes "a mockery" of the relationship between ministers and small businesses.

Association chief executive James Lowman said it would lead to cost and disruption at tens of thousands of retail businesses of all sizes.

He said: "We have explained that implementing a tobacco-display ban will cost our industry over £250 million and concessions on a longer lead-in period will not allay our grave concerns.

"This announcement makes a mockery of government claims to be the friend of small and local businesses."

The Tobacco Retailers Alliance accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of breaking its promise to help small businesses through the economic downturn. Spokesman Ken Patel said: "The display ban is nothing more than a gimmick so that the Government can get a few headlines. There's no evidence to suggest this would work - it's an experiment at the expense of our businesses."

Evidence from countries including Iceland and Canada, where cigarette displays have been removed, shows that shops have not been forced to close. But a study by the Centre for Economic and Business Research found that it could lead to a potential loss of 8,000 jobs.

The Government's overhaul of laws on tobacco control is aimed at protecting children and young people from tobacco promotion. Mr Johnson said shop displays encourage young people to start smoking and that future generations need to be protected from harm.

He said: "Enticing multi-coloured displays encourage young people to start smoking - we must put a stop to this. Smoking is a habit which is hard to break and causes 87,000 deaths a year in England alone."

Health experts today welcomed the clamp-down but criticised the failure of ministers to impose a complete ban on vending machines.

The British Medical Association said it was "disappointed" ministers were not planning to remove the machines from hotels and bars. The BMA's Dr Vivienne Nathanson said: "[The new laws are] very good news and will help prevent children from starting to smoke. However, the BMA is disappointed that the Government is not planning to ban cigarette vending machines."

Cancer Research UK's chief executive Harpal Kumar added: "We're disappointed vending machines will still be available. Nearly 50,000 teenagers get cigarettes from vending machines."