Labour challenges Tories over Shoplifter’s Charter

Labour has again challenged the Conservatives over its Shoplifter's Charter which is leaving criminals to steal with impunity.

Against the backdrop of record levels of shoplifting - up more than 30 per cent in a single year - Shadow Policing Minister Alex Norris has told the Home Secretary that it's time to finally listen to Labour and scrap the rule which makes it less likely that police will investigate the theft of goods under the value of £200.

The rules were introduced by the Tories in 2014 and came as they slash the number of bobbies on the beat by 10,000. This has left businesses and retail workers at the mercy of criminals.

Alongside scrapping the Tories' £200 rule, Labour has vowed to put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the streets and introduce a Community Policing Guarantee to tackle shoplifting.

Labour's Community Policing Guarantee means:

1. Police on the beat again

We'll bring back proper neighbourhood policing by ensuring every part of the country has more local officers and PCSOs, and guaranteed town centre patrols with tougher powers. We'll give every community a named officer they can get in touch with, so policing gets back to what it's supposed to do. 

2. Zero tolerance of antisocial behaviour

Getting tough with those who blight our towns, with new powers to ban repeat offenders from town centres and stamp out public drinking and drug use. Every local area will have a dedicated lead focused specifically on tackling anti-social behaviour. 

3. A crackdown on shoplifting and violence 
   We'll reverse the Tories' decision to downgrade the response to shoplifting under £200, making it easier to take action against repeat offenders and ending the farce of offending impunity, and creating a new specific offence of assault against retail workers. 

4. Put communities back at the heart of policing

We will give local people and businesses a say in how their local area and town centre is policed, ensuring the police work with them on deciding priorities. 

5. Make community policing something to be proud of

We will ensure that the path to career progression in policing is through getting to know your community – and ensure all neighbourhood officers are properly trained to be problem-solvers, not just recorders of crime. We will also work with the College of Policing and police chiefs to ensure neighbourhood policing has access to cutting edge technology and methods, including data analytics and hotspot policing.  

Alex Norris MP, Labour's Shadow Policing Minister, said:

“Under the Tories too many communities and high streets are being blighted by staggering increases in shoplifting, up 30 per cent in the last year alone.

“The Conservative government has decimated neighbourhood policing, leaving our town centres unprotected, and introduced a rule meaning that shoplifting of goods under £200 isn't being investigated. This Tory ‘Shoplifter's Charter' has left local businesses and retail workers at the mercy of criminals.

“Labour has been calling for tougher action on criminals who assault shopworkers for a decade and the government is only just waking up to the problem. It's time for the Tories to follow Labour's lead again and remove the £200 rule and increase town centre police patrols.

“Labour has set out a Community Policing Guarantee, with 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs to crackdown on shoplifting and keep the public safe.”

Ends

Notes:

• Section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014 introduced by Theresa May established a new category of shoplifting, designated ‘low-value shoplifting' - for shoplifting of goods amounting to less than £200 in value.

• Under that Act, any incidents involving goods below £200 would have to be tried as ‘summary only offences' - meaning that unless the defendant opted for a Crown Court jury trial, it would automatically be held at the Magistrates' Court. The police could charge the cases, and they would also be eligible for the Single Justice Procedure, meaning that a defendant could plead guilty by post and pay a small fine - thereby avoiding a court appearance.

• The move was designed to ease pressure on the courts and allow the CJS to focus on higher-harm offenders. However in practice, it has acted as a signal to the police to deprioritise any enforcement for shoplifting of goods below £200 at all – even in cases of repeat and organised shoplifting - with arrests for theft offences falling from 136,000 in 2018 to just 78,000 in 2022.

• By scrapping this sub-category of shoplifting, we will end the farce of repeat shoplifting below £200 going unpunished, and repeat serious and organised criminals avoiding court. It will make it easier to prioritise repeat and organised shoplifting whatever the level of any individual theft so it can be properly dealt with - whilst ensuring that non-court sanctions including pleading guilty by post are reserved for first-time offenders, rather than serious repeat criminals.

• Source for the 30% increase in shoplifting:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables