Birks spoke to Morris about the rising challenge of rogue trade in illegal tobacco on the High Street and the Fed’s continued calls to ensure that national and local government do more to help ensure local authority trading standards have the resources they need to face up to this challenge. In addition, he spoke of concern about high energy costs for small independent retailers, pointing out the energy intensive nature of businesses like his – typical of Fed members – which is reliant on refrigeration of perishable goods, which must be powered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.