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June 11 - GSD Welcomes Ban On Tobacco Sales

gThe GSD have issued the following reaction to the Government's announcement concerning tobacco sales:

The GSD welcomes the Government’s announcement that it will ban the sale of tobacco in certain Government estates. In fact, it is clear for everyone to see that this activity has been on the increase in Gibraltar over the last year, unfortunately worsened by the economic recession in Spain. At no point have we suggested that this is down to the Government of Gibraltar.

It is therefore disgraceful that the Chief Minister should have chosen the announcement of this measure in a GBC interview to blame the previous administration for the current state of affairs. This is very much another instance of “the blame the GSD” culture which the Chief Minister has personally become so fond of promoting. The reality is that the Leader of the Opposition has been pressing the Government to act on the issue of the sale of tobacco in Government estates for some time, specifically because of the considerable nuisance to people living in residential areas such as Glacis and Laguna.  For example, during Questions in Parliament in September of last year, the Leader of the Opposition, Daniel Feetham pressed the Chief Minister:

“Does he rule out as well … confining the sale of tobacco to particular areas in Gibraltar or at the very least taking out of the legality of where they are sold – residential estates? Because as he quite rightly recognised in his address to the Laguna and Glacis Estates, some of these shops, which were general convenience shops within those estates to start off with, are now becoming tobacco supermarkets and are selling mainly tobacco products. Of course, it is causing huge amounts of nuisance to people in the area because of what it attracts.”

The Chief Minister replied (amongst other things) that: “I rule absolutely nothing out and I do not want to be committed to anything”.

Perhaps it is telling that the Chief Minister has chosen to move on this now, weeks before a by-election in Gibraltar. Of course, residential areas are not the only concern. The Opposition recently raised the issue of the increase in smuggling at the frontier fence and Eastern Beach, where we said we would support the Government if it chose to proceed with its manifesto commitment of building a reporting berth on the east side to better monitor the situation.  This should not be a partisan issue and we have not treated it as such.  Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition recognised in September of last year that these activities existed (and were a nuisance) prior to the 9 December 2011 but the fact is that it had been worsening. 

It is a shame that the Chief Minister has turned what should have been an issue that could have been approached from a bipartisan perspective into yet another ‘blame the GSD’ exercise.