Keir Starmer vows to tackle rising retail crime

The Labour government is getting rid of a "shoplifters’ charter" to take a grip on rising retail crime left behind by the Conservative party, prime minister Keir Starmer stated on Wednesday (5) in the Commons Chamber.

Starmer was answering a question raised by Labour MP Claire Hughes when he acknowledged that shoplifting is no more a "low level" crime.

Citing an example of seaside town Llandudno where businesses are struggling with a rise in shoplifting, Hughes raised the concern in the Commons Chamber, adding that thieves are now committing robbery in full view of staff because they have no fear of consequences.

She stated, "The recent funding boost for neighbourhood policing is very welcome, but will the Prime Minister please tell my constituents what more the Government are doing to tackle retail crime and deter repeat offenders?"

Starmer agreed, saying shoplifting is not a victimless crime.

He said, "For far too long, crimes such as shoplifting have been written off as 'low level'.

"That is wrong; such crimes are devastating. The Conservative party left us with rising crime and effectively told the police to ignore shoplifting of under £200-worth of goods.

"We have got rid of that shoplifters’ charter, and we are working hard to ensure that we take a grip where they lost control."

Nearly half a million shoplifting offences were recorded by police in England and Wales in a year, the highest 12-month total on record, according to the data released by Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week.

.A total of 492,914 offences were logged by forces in the year to September 2024, up 23 per cent from 402,220 in the previous 12 months. The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003.

Industry body the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) annual crime survey also shows similar trend.

BRC survey shows that theft and violence against retail workers in Britain soared to record levels last year and are "out of control", driven partly by criminal gangs.

The survey found more than 20 million incidents of theft were committed in the year to Aug 31 2024, which equates to 55,000 a day, costing retailers a total £2.2 billion. There were 16 million incidents in the previous year.

Incidents of violence and abuse in 2023/24 climbed to over 2,000 per day, up from 1,300 the year before. This is more than three times what it was in 2020, when there were just 455 incidents a day.

Incidents included racial or sexual abuse, physical assault or threats with weapons. There were 70 incidents per day which involved a weapon, more than double the previous year, shows BRC survey.