West Midlands MEP Daniel Dalton has welcomed the backing of the European Parliament today for steps to improve co-operation between national consumer protection authorities.

The European Parliament approved new measures to ensure scams shut down in one country cannot simply be started again in another country by fraudsters. One example of a repeated illegal practice is the directory scam in which scammers demand businesses pay for a listing in a directory that doesn't exist. Directory fraud has often reappeared in a different country in a different guise after being shut down in another.

Conservative Consumer spokesman Daniel Dalton MEP, said: "For years now we have seen a familiar pattern: a scam takes off hoodwinking thousands of people in one place and when authorities shut the operation down it is simply started again in another country.

"Fraudsters don't stop at the border. Today's vote is a step in the right direction to ensure that national authorities are one step ahead of scammers who cause deep distress and misery to innocent victims.

"This is the sort of people focused cooperation that the UK should seek to continue post-Brexit."