Cost of living is behind huge rise in London shoplifting, Sadiq Khan claims
London has seen a 50 per cent rise in shoplifting, with Sadiq Khan blaming the surge on the high cost of living.
Listen to this article
Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that 80,041 shoplifting crimes were recorded in London in the 12 months to September 2024.
This is up from 53,202 compared to the previous year.
The whole of England and Wales saw a 22 per cent rise in the same period.
Sadiq Khan said: “As the cost of living crisis gets worse, acquisitive crime is going to go up, and has gone up.
He said “personal theft, personal robbery and shoplifting” were the three ‘acquisitive’ crimes that had increased the most.
Asked why it was so much worse in London than the rest of the country, he said: “Because we have a lot of shops here, and because the cost of living crisis is more acute in the capital city.”
He said that use of facial recognition technology and having “good neighbourhood watch teams” were important in bringing the level of these crimes down.