A GOVERNMENT minister is visiting Southampton today to announce a funding boost to stop millions of pounds worth of counterfeit goods pouring in to the UK.

Consumer Affairs Minister Jo Swinson will announce £400,000 of extra funding for trading standards officers to continue their crackdown on fake goods shipped into the city’s docks.

The Liberal Democrat will pledge £182,000 for the ports and border project run by National Trading Standards (NTS) at the ports of Southampton and Felixstowe.

The project sees the national team work with their counterparts in Southampton to discover any attempted shipment of counterfeit goods through the port.

Last year more than 150,000 counterfeit goods, valued at more than £17.7m, were seized at Southampton docks.

The haul included Rolex, Tag Heuer, Omega, Armani and Breitling products, as well as trainers, items of clothing and children’s toys destined to be sold on the streets of Hampshire.

Nationally, more than 9,000 unsafe consumer goods, including toys and electrical goods, were seized over the past year as well as 2,030kg of unsafe cosmetics.

Announcing the funding, Ms Swinson said: “Dangerous and fake goods hurt legitimate businesses and put consumers at risk of harm.

“This extra money will help protect the public and make it easier to catch rogue traders.”

NTS chairman Lord Toby Harris said: “We welcome these additional funds to help our teams across the country continue their important work.

“I am particularly pleased that the Safety at Ports and Borders teams, who face a growing challenge in terms of preventing potentially dangerous products coming into the UK, will now be able to put extra resource into intercepting these items before they can do consumers any harm.”

Anyone who has concerns about the safety of a product they have bought should contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 03454 040506.