Sainsbury’s and Asda among supermarkets lobbying MPs to drop disposable vape ban
Sainsbury’s, Asda and other supermarkets are funding a group that is lobbying MPs to block a ban on disposable vapes and water down regulations, i can reveal.
The retailers are members of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), a trade body, which wrote to MPs urging them to raise its concerns about the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in its first debate on Tuesday.
The ACS told i it has received £120,000 in annual subscription fees from four tobacco and vaping companies: British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris International and Imperial Brands.
Four more vaping firms have given the group £74,000 in subscriptions.
The findings follow an i investigation which found vaping firms are funding a new pressure group of MPs attempting to water down plans to regulate the industry. The industry has donated £470,000 to MPs and parliamentary groups over the last six years.
The ACS’s members include Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. Morrisons, Co-Op, Southern Co-Op and Spar are members with representatives on the group’s board.
Asda and Waitrose acknowledged they are members of the ACS but said they are in favour of a ban on disposable vapes.
Major retailers have each paid up to £17,410 a year for their memberships.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, a charity, told i: “We are concerned about ACS being too close to the tobacco industry – and listening to the industry rather than their members.”
In an email widely sent to MPs on Friday and seen by i, the ACS said it wanted them to seek reassurances from the Government that planned restrictions on the display of vaping products would not be as strict as those for tobacco products.
It also claimed that the introduction of the smoking ban could result in increased violence and abuse towards shopkeepers.
The ACS has also urged businesses to write to their MPs to oppose the ban on disposable vapes, which is expected to come into force in April 2025.
The trade body offers a contact form on its website that simplifies the process by allowing visitors to enter their postcode, which fills in the email address for their MP and a pre-written draft that is ready to be sent.
The email draft argues that the ban on disposable vapes will push users to take up smoking, affect business sales and fuel an illicit market.
In its call to action the ACS says: “We do not believe that a ban on disposable vapes represents an effective policy intervention.”
Vaping companies’ annual funding for the Association of Convenience Stores
£120,000 – annual subscription fees from British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris International and Imperial Brands
£30,000 – from Phoenix2Retail, a vaping distributor and wholesaler
£30,000 – from Deep Vaping (Green Fun Alliance), a vaping manufacturer
£14,000 – from JUUL and Aquios, vaping manufacturers
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is making its way through Parliament, will ban disposable vapes and give the Government powers to restrict vape flavours, introduce plain packaging and change how vapes are displayed in shops so they don’t appeal to children. The legislation also includes a ban on smoking.
Ms Arnott said polling it commissioned in January of nearly 1,000 independent shops, including more than 500 convenience stores, found most were supportive of the bill.
She told i: “ACS lobbying is straight from the playbook of Big Tobacco, and doesn’t reflect their members’ views.
“A representative poll of retailers finds that the legislation is supported by the majority of convenience stores – more than twice as many as oppose them, and the overwhelming majority support requiring proof of age.”
Ms Arnott said the ACS has a “track record of following the tobacco industry line”, having opposed previous rules banning the display of tobacco products and requiring plain packaging.
She said Action on Smoking and Health is worried that MPs will be “misled by what the ACS is saying”.
Rosemary Hiscock, a researcher at the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group, said the tobacco industry is known for trying to influence Government policies via other groups.
She told i: “They aren’t allowed to advertise generally but then they can advertise their new products in the retailer press, so therefore they can reach retailers.
“They often do operate with front groups so that it looks like the challenge is coming from the retailers, but actually they’re being funded by the tobacco industry.
“They often use the same arguments the tobacco industry themselves use, so it looks independent but actually it’s all funded by the tobacco industry.”
David Strain, board of science chair at the British Medical Association, said disposable vapes are harmful to the environment and “through predatory marketing tactics” primarily target young people, exposing them to the harms of nicotine addiction.
He told i: “There must be tighter regulation and restriction around disposable vapes and the fact that industry is lobbying so aggressively means we need to remain focused in our efforts to ensure regulation protects the health of the population.”
Libby Peake, head of resource policy at the Green Alliance think tank, said MPs “shouldn’t be swayed by these business interests who are making money from damaging both the health of the nation’s children and the health of the environment”.
She told i: “It’s no surprise that businesses that are currently making a lot of money out of vapes – and seeing an exponentially expanding market – want to defend that and try to ensure that that market doesn’t disappear completely.
“The data on that is incredibly alarming, not just in terms of how quickly the market is growing, but in terms of the uptake amongst youth in particular – in other words, non-smokers. The environmental impacts from that rise are also quite shocking.”
The ACS said it only represents the interests of convenience retailers and “any supplier to the convenience sector cannot by definition be a member and has no input in our policy positions”.
It said suppliers to the convenience sector looking to network with retailers and have access to ACS data and insight can purchase one of three annual packages: Connect, Club and Premier Club packages. It said there are 100 companies signed up to these packages and the fees from four tobacco firms represent only 5 per cent of ACS’s annual turnover. The vaping firms mentioned are also not members, but suppliers, it said.
A spokesperson said: “ACS does not represent the views of suppliers to the convenience sector, who cannot by definition be members.” It said suppliers can take part in events but cannot provide feedback on policy submissions and have no influence on policy making on any issue.
A spokesperson for Asda said the company supports the current Tobacco and Vapes Bill, including the full ban on disposable vapes, as well as restrictions on placement, flavours, and the marketing of all vapes.
A Waitrose spokesperson said: “As the first supermarket to announce our intention to never sell disposable vapes, we absolutely support the Government’s ban.”
Morrisons, Co-op and Southern Co-op declined to comment. Sainsbury’s and Spar did not respond to a request for comment.
