Baroness Walmsley (LD)

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, for his comments and to the Minister for her response. The very fact that there is an illicit market is an indication that there are gaps in enforcement. This group of amendments is an effort to control that illicit market or, at the very least, to deter illicit supply by way of the size of the financial penalties proposed. The Minister mentioned vapes laced with spice, which are often obtained online by young people from websites with a very poor level of age restriction. Many of them do not even know what they are getting because many of these products claim to have THC, the active element of cannabis, in them and do not mention spice at all. Perhaps that leads us to reconsider the earlier amendment that proposed a ban on online sales, because it might get rid of that problem. However, I accept that the Government are keen on controlling the illicit market. That the strategy will be based on the illicit tobacco strategy will help, because it will be based on lessons learned, I hope. So I am content for the moment to look forward to the increased powers of HMRC and increased funding for enforcement. I will not press my amendments any further.