'Death of the high street' comedian backs Burnham's crackdown on 'dodgy' vape shops

A comedian who has long called for action on dodgy vape shops has backed Andy Burnham's proposed crackdown and said: "He should throw the book at them."

Jacob Hawley who often rails against rogue retailers blighting Britain's high streets - welcomed the PM's plans to give council's more powers to block the shops and reverse the decline of town centres.

The comic, who last month said sorting out the number of dodgy shops would be the most popular things a politicians done in years, said: "100% it's a good move by Burnham, its something that effects people every day as they walk to the train station or drive home."

Downing Street said councils will be given the ability to refuse new betting and 24-hour slot machine shops on the high street. And the formal definition of a vape shop will be tightened to stop businesses sidestepping the new rules by claiming to be a "convenience store or a retailer"

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star, Jacob said: "You see these ugly little pop ups with people sat inside doing nothing and taking home more money than you do often while committing crime. It gets people down.

"A lot of these places are money laundering, avoiding tax, using the premises as a way of getting dodgy visas to essentially people traffic, or even selling drugs."

As many as half of convenience stores and vape retailers in some areas are estimated to have links with organised crime, according to a Trading Standards report.

Jacob, who hosts the Screen Rot podcast with fellow funnyman Jake Farrell, added: "If this was happening in America the FBI would be on the case. Except here its underfunded councils sending little old council workers round with a clipboard to knock on the door.

"It's a big vulnerable hole in Britains infrastructure that has been exploited for years, whilst pubs and shops close every single day because they cant afford to run.

"The money youd recover by fining the criminals and taking away their dodgy money would pay for the operation twice over."

Jacob has often called for the government to take action on shops suspected of being fronts for money laundering and other criminal activities.

He tweeted last month: "If a politician just said Im gonna put a bit of money in and just wipe this all out it would be one of the most popular things a politicians done in years. Everyones f***ing fed up with it."

Jacob has been such a vocal critic of the dodgy shops that an online wag mocked him up as the new 'secretary of state for the defence of the high street' when Mr Burnham was elected PM.

And when the high street crackdown was announced on Tuesday, he inundated with message on X from fans desperate for his reaction to the news.

Asked what action he would like to see taken, he told us: "Crack down on the landlords who are renting out units for these people, investigate their books, ban them from owning commercial property.

"It would leave huge gaps in our high streets that could be filled by pubs, venues, eating establishments, small businesses. It would genuinely change the country. But its supply and demand isnt it?

"If the supply increases, if theres more empty units, business rates would have to drop to make sure people could fill those spaces."

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