Controversial British politician Nigel Farage criticises Australian smoking bans for fuelling the rise of criminal gangs as he pulls a dart outside a pub

According to British politician Nigel Farage, Australia’s anti-smoking laws and high taxes are the root cause of organised crime in the country.

Mr Farage, leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform Party, cited Australia as an example of what not to do and criticised leaked government plans to introduce smoke-free zones around British pubs, clubs and football grounds.

Farage, as he often does in media spots, appeared outside his favourite pub with a pint of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He said Australia’s stricter smoking laws had led to the enrichment of “vast criminal gangs”.

He warned that if Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government were to implement leaked plans to ban smoking in beer gardens and on the premises of nightclubs, it would mean the “end of pubs”.

Mr Farage said he did not believe the government had sufficiently considered the implications of the proposal and its impact on business.

“You’ll notice that very few people drink inside (the pub), they drink outside. Why? Because they’re allowed to smoke outside,” he said.

‘I’ve been coming here for 30 years, regularly, every week, for 30 years. If the government says I can’t drink and smoke outside, I won’t come back. And I’m one of hundreds of regulars of this pub who feel that way.’

Mr Farage claims that Australia’s huge tobacco taxes have made legal, taxed cigarettes so expensive that even law abiding citizens are forced to buy illegal tobacco at a low price, providing more money for the criminal organisations that import and distribute the tobacco.

Farage’s view is supported by Victorian Libertarian MP David Limbrick, who on Wednesday staged a colourful stunt to ‘celebrate’ the 100 arsons of tobacco shops, a result of these criminal activities and the attempt to destroy competitors.

Mr Limbrick brought a cigarette-shaped cake to the steps of Parliament House in Victoria to make his point.

As the sparklers burst into flames, Mr. Limbrick and his staff sang “happy arson Victoria, happy arson to you” to the tune of Happy Birthday.

When the song ended, Mr. Limbrick shouted, “Hip hip, kaboom.”

Despite the dark irony, Mr Limbrick said there was a serious message in the stunt and that it… ‘just dumb luck that no one has been killed yet’.

Tobacco shops across Victoria, particularly Melbourne, have been set alight following a series of arson attacks. The arsons are believed to be part of a turf war between criminal gangs seeking to rid themselves of competitors for their illicit tobacco.

Victorian Liberal MP David Limbrick ‘celebrated’ 100 arsons at tobacco retailers in his state as a tongue-in-cheek way of making a point about what he claimed was the effect of high taxes

“We can stop (targeted arson) by addressing the root causes rather than the whack-a-mole approach that governments take,” Mr Limbrick said.

“We can’t get out of this with policing. We need to look at the root causes that can be solved with the power of economics.”

He later tweeted that “raising tobacco taxes is a direct shield for organized crime models.”

“One can only conclude that they are either evil and deliberately supporting organized crime, or they are simply stupid and incompetent,” he wrote.