Andy Burnham is right. These are words that I was not expecting to use about our new unelected left-wing Labour Party Prime Minister.
But during an announcement this week, he spoke at length about how vape shops have “hollowed out” our town centres. Agreed – across Britain our high streets have become unrecognisable from little more than a decade ago.
In short, they have become a Wild West: unregulated, underpoliced, crime-ridden and out of control. Streets with multiple empty barber shops, unused takeaways, vape shops, tourist tat and so-called “candy”.
These shops have sprung up everywhere, even in rural towns and villages, despite there being quite plainly no legitimate demand. I have not noticed enough long-haired men to keep so many barbers open.
Since 2015, we have seen five times more barber shops (cash only), four times more fast-food takeaways and more than ten times more vape shops. Over the past few months, it has finally become obvious to our Westminster overlords what people around the country have known for quite some years.
We have seen a deluge of exposes on vape shops and other shops serving as fronts for visa fraud, child exploitation, drug dealing, money laundering and other criminal activities. Yet there is little sign of effective policing.
I call this visa fraud because that is what it is: fraudulent claims of skill and talent. No one should be getting a visa as a “skilled” worker to work in a dodgy high street shop.
It is ridiculous for any of these shops to be allowed to sponsor visas in the first place. And it is a disgrace we have allowed vape shops and takeaways to act as unregulated soft paths for immigrants and their dependents to enter Britain.
The system through the Home Office is not working on behalf of the British people but seemingly for those set on abusing the system. The fact is, for years, organised crime has grown in plain sight.
This should be a national shame for our political, regulatory and justice class. It is rife right across the country’s high streets – in Mr Burnham's home of Manchester too – and the rampant rise of shops of dubious provenance with such limited footfall should have been a blatant indicator of this illegality.
They are hiding in plain sight. When ordinary shops have been squeezed out of business by the combination of rising costs, high taxes, punishing National Insurance rises and internet shopping, how else can anyone explain the “success” of dodgy shops?
The sort of shop that has a revolving door of foreign staff and regular rebrands. Now, I have not become a Burnham believer.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Andy Burnham unveils high street crackdown on vape shops, betting shops and criminal enterprises
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- Andy Burnham blasted by Vaping Association boss over 'insane' crackdown: 'Tarring every store in the country!'
I think this is a step in the right direction, but this is only a step, not a solution. Burnham has only partially identified the problem.
Much of his announcement focuses on betting shops as part of this decline. Many have been long-established and are under real pressure from job cuts, with there being 3,000 fewer betting outlets now than in 2015.
They are the wrong target. Make no mistake, Burnham is using the scourge of vape shops and the criminals infesting the high street to pursue an ideological attack on betting shops and not solve the problem: out-of-control immigration and visa abuse.
As for his solution? Well, I fear it will not work.
Firstly, No10 are not yet proposing any meaningful clampdowns on existing shops. Instead, Downing Street's bold strategy for hitting current places is to limit their ability to have colourful shop fronts.
An extension of the pointless plain packaging rules for shops. Of course, criminals do not tend to care too much about the law, so many of the shops will simply ignore this plan or find new ways to circumvent the rules.
This is without mentioning how, in the modern age, vape shops often use “viral” social media ads and online sales targeted at children and young adults, rather than storefronts and footfall. As for the majority of the new restrictions he announced, they are just that: new.
They will not apply to the existing criminalised shops across our country, which defeats the point in many ways. What is needed is greater enforcement and investigation of existing shops and the criminals running them, rather than tinkering with greater regulation.
Earlier this year £30million was found for enforcement operations; this should be the focus of Government energy. Britons do not want new rules – they want the rules applied sensibly, visibly, properly, and to see these criminals punished and such visa abuse ended.
Our towns need proper sheriffs and the country proper borders.
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