Labour will tackle shoplifting amid 'record levels' with better protection for workers, shadow minister says

20 April 2024, 13:03 | Updated: 20 April 2024, 22:18

Alex Norris MP has outlined plans for the party to tackle shoplifting
Alex Norris MP has outlined plans for the party to tackle shoplifting. Picture: Getty/Official Portrait

By Flaminia Luck

Shadow Policing Minister Alex Norris has told LBC Labour will tacke the issue of shoplifting amid a worrying rise in incidents.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

"Our research has shown that we've reached record levels of shoplifting nearly 1,000 incidents every single day and at the same time charging for shoplifting has fallen by 20%," Mr Norris said.

He added these are the sort of thing that "ruin town centres" for shoppers and workers.

Read more: Police reviewing claims Tory MP Mark Menzies misused campaign funds to 'pay off bad people'

Shadow Policing Minister Alex Norris on shoplifting

Mr Norris has said the party would reverse cuts to the amount of officers on streets and put more thousands more police on the streets.

He also said Labour would push for the re-instalment of the £200 limit which means goods are worth less than that, the maximum sentence is six months in prison, but this type of offence is usually dealt with by issuing a postal fine.

He also wants more protection shop workers and said the party supports the creation of stand-alone offence for violence against retail workers

He added the goverment voted against this earlier this year.

"I think if you put that package in it would really make a dint in this issue," he said.

He also said he supports the use of facial recgnition but says more manpower is also essential.

"There's no point in having this wonderful technology if you don't have the human beings to make those arrests, never mind then a court system that can process them or a prison system that can hold them."

Read more: Met police apologise again after 'victim blaming' backlash over threat to arrest 'openly Jewish' man at march

Rishi Sunak tells Nick Ferrari he will crack down on shoplifting

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously said shops must be free from the threat of crime or abuse.

He told workers "We've got your back" during the unveiling of a new specific offence of assaulting a shop worker.

The new offence, brought in as part of an amended Criminal Justice Bill, will carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail or an unlimited fine. This is the same sentence that can be given out for common assault.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari, Mr Sunak recalled his own experience of seeing shoplifters steal from his parents' pharmacy while he was there.

"Of course, for a small family business it’s obviously financially affecting but it’s also very distressing," he said. "I know what it feels like".

The PM pointed out that crime had gone down in the past 14 years, but admitted that shoplifting had increased. "It’s not acceptable - it’s absolutely not right," he said.

Items are locked up in a store
Items are locked up in a store. Picture: Getty

Helen Dickinson, chairwoman of the BRC, welcomed the announcement, saying that "the voices of the three million people working in retail are finally being heard".

She said: "The impact of retail violence has steadily worsened, with people facing racial abuse, sexual harassment, threatening behaviour, physical assault and threats with weapons, often linked to organised crime.

"Victims are ordinary hardworking people - teenagers taking on their first job, carers looking for part-time work, parents working around childcare."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Italian F1 Grand Prix - Previews

Nightclub bouncer behind £12m plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets jailed

Josef Fritzl

Incest monster Josef Fritzl could walk free from prison next year - and expects 'cheering crowds' to greet him

Ofsted's Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver supports an extension to term times

'Time to think about school holidays': Ofsted's Chief Inspector supports extending term times

Exclusive
Angela Rayner insisted that British support for Ukraine was 'unwavering'

Rayner insists UK support for Ukraine 'unwavering' despite Trump's plan for 'immediate' peace talks with Putin

Prince William, President of BAFTA, operates a film camera as he visits the London Screen Academy in London, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)

William tries his hand at being a cameraman on visit to London film academy

President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during the G20 Japan Summit Friday, June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan.

Trump and Putin to 'start negotiations immediately' over ending war in Ukraine - with US President to visit Moscow

Street scene in Peckham, London, with red bus

Bus driver, 76, found guilty of killing passenger who was run over while attempting to board vehicle

Norward Road, Lambeth, the proposed LTN.

Council staff given 'wellbeing day' after attending 'stormy' neighbourhood meeting

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, shakes hands with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb.

Ukraine's NATO membership plans 'unrealistic' says US - as defence secretary claims US troops won't be peacekeepers

Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire

Officer accused of pinning down and trying to kiss soldier, 19, had been 'waiting for moment for them to be alone'

A public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks'

Public inquiry into Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks', PM tells victims' families

Paul Allen.

Cagefighter guilty of Britain's largest cash robbery shot in neck in his kitchen in murder plot

Lucy Harrison

British woman, 23, dies after being shot dead at dad's US house as 'utterly heartbroken' family pays tribute

Ragley Hall, Warwickshire.

Earl sues parents over 'trauma' for not being gifted £85 million Warwickshire estate

d

Outrage as auction house flogs Nazi memorabilia including Göring's dinner plate, Luftwaffe dagger and Swastika bunting

An asteroid could hit earth in 2036.

NASA makes 'emergency' decision over asteroid the size of Big Ben that could strike Earth