Town and City Centre Safety

Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Westminster Hall

09:30

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op) [R]]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered town and city centre safety.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I declare my interest as a city councillor in Derby and former council leader, but most importantly as a proud Derby-born resident since 1972—yes, the year we won the league. In Derby, as in towns and cities up and down the country, there is so much to be proud of. We have a community that rolls up its sleeves and cracks on. From Alvaston to Sinfin, our Derby Parks Volunteers are out come rain or shine, working to keep our parks looking their best. Just before Christmas, volunteers from across the city—from the Salvation Army, the Pakistan Community Centre and the gurdwaras—pulled together to support 200 Pear Tree families evacuated from their homes. It is those examples of community, and many more, that make us proud to call our city home.

The city is brimming with what it has to offer our residents and visitors. People can grab a pint at the Hairy Dog, and head on to a gig at Vaillant Live, which opened its doors last year. They will see that the city is buzzing. And there is an exciting future ahead, with regeneration efforts breathing new life into the cultural heart of our city. Demolishing the Assembly Rooms, which could not come a moment too soon in my view, will completely transform our marketplace, creating a multipurpose community venue, a four-star hotel and grade A office space for the fantastic businesses across our city. That is not all. From the redevelopment of the derelict Friar Gate Goods Yard, to the Guildhall theatre, regeneration is going full steam ahead. In our city, we are committed to creating positive change that our community can feel.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is setting out brilliantly some of the regeneration that we are seeing in our city. From the new performance venue, Vaillant Live, and the redevelopment of the Friar Gate Goods Yard, to the £20 million that the Government are investing in the Guildhall and Derby theatres, it is regeneration that he has played a central part in, both as council leader and, now, as an MP. He is absolutely right that the long-awaited demolition of the Assembly Rooms and the regeneration of that site will be transformational for our marketplace—the icing on the Birds Bakery cake. But does he agree that people will go into the city centre and enjoy that regeneration only if they feel safe to do so? Does he agree that more bobbies on the beat and further investment in our CCTV—issues that we have both been working on—are essential so that everyone feels safe to live, work and play in our city?

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind Members that 20-odd people wish to speak. That means that everyone will get a maximum of about two minutes—I might as well give everyone a heads-up on that—so if there are to be interventions, then, as I have said in the past, can they be a sketch, not an oil painting, please?

[Baggy Shanker]

Thank you, Mr Dowd. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson)—my fantastic MP—for her intervention. She is absolutely right: it is a partnership of investment, but people need to feel safe in our city centre.

As my constituent John told me, we can see how much effort and investment are being put into our city, from building housing to breathing new life into the shops and spaces in our city centre. I want every single resident and visitor to be able to take their family out for the day, meet up with friends and enjoy what the city centre has to offer, but the long-term success of regeneration depends on the community feeling safe to enjoy our city centre. As John also told me, he has real concerns about the safety of his family when they are out and about in Derby. Seeing drug users loitering on St Peter’s Street and on paths by the River Derwent has put him off popping to the shops and has stopped his wife going out running in our city centre altogether.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend makes the point about people needing to feel safe in their communities. One of the issues that many of us hear from our constituents about is illegal e-bikes speeding through our parks and town centres. Many reputable dealers, such as Bikeseven and Palace Cycles in my constituency, would never sell an illegal e-bike, but they are widely available. Does my hon. Friend agree that the time has come to ban the sale of illegal e-bikes and cut the problem off at source?

[Baggy Shanker]

It is simple: if they are illegal, they should be banned.

Unfortunately, John and his family are not alone. I hear those concerns reflected at my surgeries and in my inbox time and again. Families such as John’s tell me that they are worried about the drug and alcohol abuse they see on our streets.

[Warinder Juss (Wolverhampton West) (Lab)]

In my constituency, the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership works with keyholders such as the council, police, healthcare, housing and education providers. The Way Youth Zone also provides support, stability and a safe place for young people. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to adopt a co-ordinated and holistic approach to addressing city centre safety, with appropriate funding for youth services?

[Baggy Shanker]

It is critical to have the right funding and a sense of partnership working to tackle the problem together. Young people often tell me they want to take in everything our wonderful city centre has to offer but knife crime, and the perception of knife crime, makes them worry for their safety when they are out and about. Constituents, such as Tirath, tell me the lack of visible policing heightens their concern, so that they feel unsafe in the city centre.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

Neighbourhood policing teams are essential to ensure that feeling of safety on our high streets and in our town centres. I hope my hon. Friend will join me in commending my local team, led by Inspector Tany Ditta in Bingley, Shipley and Baildon. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government’s investment in 3,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers is essential to make people feel safe in our town centres, to help our high streets thrive?

[Baggy Shanker]

I congratulate Inspector Ditta and my hon. Friend on all the work she does to help her local police, coupled with the additional investment in the police from our Government.

Nobody here will want to talk down their city centre and I am not here to talk down Derby. Like our constituents, we are proud of the places we represent but, up and down the country, years of Tory austerity and mismanagement have eroded that pride. Austerity took bobbies off the beat and out of our city centres, with PCSO numbers halved and an estimated 600 police stations shutting their doors for good. It left our high streets boarded up, with shops closing at a rate of 37 a day in 2024. It also let retail crime run rampant, leaving shoplifting at its highest level since records began, with hard-working staff worried about their safety at work. A Co-op campaign to protect retail workers shows that, shockingly, there are more than 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse every day, with shop workers threatened just for doing their job.

The catastrophic austerity experiment left our communities feeling less safe than ever. Research by the University of Southampton demonstrates that austerity led to a 3.7% increase in total crime and 4.8% increase in violent crime, with those increases hitting deprived neighbourhoods the hardest. In Derby, we have seen that play out in the streets and places we love. Pride for one’s city is stretched when the high street is littered with empty or plain dodgy shops. In 2024, Derbyshire Live estimated that more than 80 shops in the city centre were for sale or to let. That is an increase of about 60% on the previous two years. Any sense of safety was shaken when last summer residents watched masked thieves smash their way into a pawnbroker’s shop on St Peter’s Street in broad daylight.

[Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech about an issue that is important to many of us. He talks about masked thieves. Councils have the power to ban face coverings, particularly in town centres, by introducing public space protection orders. Does he agree that councils should work with the police to do that where appropriate? Is he as shocked as I am that Hillingdon council is refusing to ban face coverings in the town centre, despite the community and the police asking it to do so for exactly the sorts of reasons that he mentions?

[Baggy Shanker]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point. The police need to work with local authorities to tackle these issues sensitively.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend mentioned dodgy shops. I have been running a campaign against dodgy vape shops and others on the high street. Safety is so important, and these shops, which sell goods to young people, erode confidence in the high street. Does he agree that commercial landlords must be given more powers so that they can understand exactly who they are renting to and shut such shops down?

[Baggy Shanker]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: such shops do not help other businesses and residents, and do not make our city centres a safe environment, so more measures are needed to tackle that.

Last year, there was another really difficult day for our city. Gurvinder Singh Johal, also known as Danny, was tragically murdered as he was going about his business in a Lloyds Bank branch on a Tuesday afternoon. It was utterly devastating for his family. When crimes like that happen in plain sight, in places that we use regularly and consider to be safe, it is not surprising that public confidence is shaken. Communities are left wondering whether the towns and cities they know and love really are the places that they see in front of them. Public safety is not just about law enforcement; as my constituent Tirath puts it, it is also about preserving the character of the places we call home.

Constituents up and down the country, in towns and cities from Stoke-on-Trent to Somerset, share the same feelings. We are here today because we want to take our constituents’ concerns seriously. We are here because when they tell us that more needs to be done for them to feel like crime is being taken seriously and tackled, we want to listen. Most importantly, we are here because although austerity damaged our towns and cities, it did not break them. We want to crack on and make changes so that everyone can enjoy our town and city centres as the brilliant and buzzing places that we know they can be.

That is why I want to talk about what comes next. We know that keeping our communities safe is not about warm words; it is about action. That means working hand in hand with the police and our partners to ensure that people feel welcome and secure spending time in our towns and cities.

[Stuart Anderson (South Shropshire) (Con)]

I have recently completed a “shop local” survey of almost 4,500 residents, and they said that a cleaner high street would improve community pride and help to reduce crime. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that is a good initial approach, although it does not replace police on the beat?

[Baggy Shanker]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We need clean, vibrant, buzzing city centres, and organisations must work in partnership with the police—it is everyone’s responsibility.

At home in Derby, I have worked to drive practical action on crime and antisocial behaviour. I have teamed up with local partners and my neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North, to hold regular city centre summits. I pay tribute to the organisations that have got round the table with us, including Safe and Sound, the Derbyshire constabulary and the Derby City Youth Alliance. The work they do day to day to support our city centre and ensure it is a place that our community can enjoy is absolutely vital. There is still much more to do, but we are taking steps in the right direction.

Constituents regularly tell me that when police are not visible, they feel more worried about their safety in the city centre. On a recent walkabout with local police, I was pleased to see at first hand how work to recruit and deploy more police officers and public protection officers is helping residents to feel safe and supported when they are out and about in Derby. We also know that action at a local level needs backing with investment, resources and the visible, responsive police presence our communities want to see.

[Helen Maguire (Epsom and Ewell) (LD)]

I am pleased that the night-time economy is on the rise in Epsom, and although I have not sampled the new Labyrinth nightclub I have been to many restaurants and pubs with local residents. The thriving night-time economy contributes to our high streets but, as the hon. Member mentioned, they must be safe. Does he agree that, even at night time, a visible, trusted police presence deters crime?

[Baggy Shanker]

Absolutely. There is no time when the police presence should not be there. It should be there during the day, in the evening and during night-time hours.

Last year, I was absolutely chuffed to see the Chancellor back Team Derby, which will bring everyone with a stake in our city’s future together to ensure that every pound of investment coming into Derby delivers the real change our community can see. That is why I wholeheartedly welcome the Labour Government’s commitment to keeping our streets safe for everyone to enjoy. Whether it is freeing up local offices to deliver neighbourhood policing in their communities; making sure that, when residents report concerns to 999, they can be confident about the response they will get; or putting bobbies back on the beat, it is vital that we crack on with the job—today, tomorrow and every single day.

Wherever we call home, it is a basic expectation that we can step out of our front door, pop to local shops and feel safe. I urge the Minister to back reform with the investment and resources our local police forces need so that, in Derby and across the country, our communities have the confidence to enjoy everything that their towns and cities have to offer them.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind Members that, should they wish to bob to be called in the debate, they should do so. Members have two minutes to speak.

09:47

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) on securing this important debate, and on his introductory speech. Across the country, there is a growing disconnect between the official statistics on serious crime and the lived experience of our communities. Although some categories of serious violence have declined, many people feel less safe than ever in our town and city centres. That perception is not irrational; it reflects the rise of highly visible, everyday crimes that fundamentally shape how people experience public spaces. Antisocial behaviour, phone snatching and shoplifting have become rife on our streets. Those offences may not always dominate national headlines, but they corrode public confidence in the police and undermine the social fabric of our communities.

In Dewsbury and Batley, those trends are painfully visible. Just weeks ago, a gang knife attack in Dewsbury town left one man seriously injured in broad daylight. Days later, the police seized £600,000 worth of cannabis from a drugs factory operating in the town centre.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

I appreciate that this is a slightly different issue but, with empty properties on high streets and absent landlords not contributing to our communities, crime is taking place in those buildings in Stafford, and local authorities do not have the powers they need to take them back from absentee landlords. Does the hon. Member agree that that is something on which the Government need to press heavily, to get our town centres back into active use?

[Iqbal Mohamed]

I agree that empty shops and buildings in town centres are a draw for nefarious activities, with people squatting or committing crimes from those places. I encourage the Government to look at that. The recent announcement of business rate cuts will help certain businesses, but that should be extended across all town centre businesses.

On Sunday, thieves brazenly stole the 129-year-old mayoral chains from Dewsbury’s town hall, having climbed in through the roof. Constituents tell me that they no longer feel safe shopping, or even leaving home after dark. These are not abstract statistics; they are lived realities that have major ramifications for an individual’s quality of life. The decline of visible neighbourhood policing and the hollowing out of council services and youth centres have played a significant role in this deplorable state of affairs. Those changes were not inexorable certainties, but a conscious political programme of austerity. That is why I welcome the Government’s renewed emphasis on neighbourhood policing, including dedicated antisocial behaviour leads and guaranteed patrols in towns. In Dewsbury, we have seen the emergence of a new town centre team. Those initiatives matter: visibility matters.

Nationally, the challenge is stark: shoplifting is at record levels, phone snatching rose by 153% in a single year and abuse of retail workers is escalating. The Crime and Policing Bill contains some welcome measures, but legislation alone will not rebuild public confidence. Town centre safety requires a holistic approach—policing, youth services, urban design, transport, economic regeneration and more must work together. Ultimately, crime is a threat not just to security, but to democratic trust. Safer town centres are not just a policing objective; they are a democratic necessity. If we want people to believe in our towns, institutions and democracy, we must start by ensuring that they feel safe on our streets.

09:51

[Gill German (Clwyd North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing the debate.

Improving community safety in Clwyd North is one of my top priorities. It has been great to work alongside North Wales police through meetings and walkabouts, and to talk directly to retail workers and residents out and about in the town centre. I have seen how antisocial behaviour is being tackled through better community cohesion. Local PCSOs and shopkeepers are connected by radio in our town centres, staying in regular contact so that they can quickly share information about what is happening on the street and, crucially, step in when issues arise. That kind of everyday co-operation is making a difference by deterring antisocial behaviour before it escalates, reassuring residents and businesses with a visible presence, and bringing a sense of order and safety, which is so important. That really matters because it shows people that antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated, and that our communities, and crucially our high streets, belong to the law-abiding majority.

We have got more PCSOs in every Clwyd North neighbourhood with a named officer in each one. We have got local initiatives, such as Operation Restore and Operation Vroom, to tackle violent offences, antisocial behaviour and persistent nuisance behaviour like e-bikes and disruption on our streets. In short, I can see first hand from being out and about in Clwyd North that Government-backed initiatives are being backed up by the local police’s confidence to really tackle issues. We have more PCSOs in our neighbourhoods, safer streets and stronger local communities. It makes a real difference and makes people feel secure.

09:53

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I thank the hon. Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing the debate and giving us all a chance to participate.

I want to give a Northern Ireland perspective on town and city centre safety. Northern Ireland has several specific Government-led and multi-agency initiatives designed to improve safety in town and city centres. They are often co-ordinated through local partnerships, such as the PCSP—police and community safety partnership. However, as with most Departments, lack of funding in Northern Ireland has greatly hampered the progress in safety that they need. For example, CCTV —the sleeping policeman, as I call it—in Newtownards and Bangor is not fit for purpose. It needs upgrading: the screen and film is very grainy, so it is hard to ascertain who is on it. The local Police Service of Northern Ireland chief superintendent is crying out for a system that can be used as evidence for crimes, but more importantly one that can prevent crimes. The local PCSP have acknowledged the need, and yet the council’s hands are ostensibly tied, having struck the local rate.

We then go up the ladder to the Minister for Justice.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we have the potential for a win-win here? Many people complain about high street shops being derelict and empty, but if we can encourage people to live adjacent to or above retail units, we can increase footfall and protect people, provided the police are present, particularly in the evening time.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend for that. It is not just about CCTV in the city centre, but in the shops as well. The Minister and the Department have highlighted that their funding does not stretch. I could argue that the Minister does not prioritise in the way that I would like, but that does not change the facts. The PSNI has indicated that if it had the system, it would monitor it. In other words, if the system is in place, the PSNI will look after it, so there is an advantage to doing that.

I have one quick story— I am conscious of time and want to give others the chance to participate. My son worked in a shop in Newtownards—he does not work there any more. One night, a guy came in to rob the till and steal some drink. He threatened my son with a knife, so my son stepped back, which was the right thing to do—there is no sense in being a hero when it comes to some maniac with a knife. The CCTV in the shop was the reason they were able to catch them, so it is just not about CCTV in the street, but the CCTV in the constituency shops as well.

The rate of crime in Newtownards is 33.6 crimes per 1,000 people compared with 36 elsewhere. The PSNI find themselves going from business to business to ask for camera evidence, and even to ask residents for Ring doorbell footage. That is another way of catching those who are up to no good, and is something we need to focus on.

09:56

[Sadik Al-Hassan (North Somerset) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. In my constituency of North Somerset and our amazing town centres, safety is an issue raised consistently by residents, and their concerns reflect a wider truth about communities across our country. Homicide rates in England and Wales have fallen to their lowest levels since records began, which is welcome news, yet that is not how people in my community and across the UK feel. We have less violent crime, but the small crimes that tear the fabric of our community spirit are on the rise.

Having spent nearly two decades working in pharmacy, I know at first hand that I can be in a local shop watching somebody sweep a shelf of products into their bag and walk away almost undeterred, driving a feeling of lawlessness, making us feel that antisocial behaviour and crime rates are increasing, because low-level everyday issues are more prevalent and more visible. Shop floor staff are often told not to put themselves at risk—rightfully so, as I still have a scar on the back of my hand from a shoplifter. The public are afraid to get involved, as they will likely be on the wrong side of the law. It is the antisocial behaviour, the petty shoplifting, the lack of police presence and even the proliferation of e-bikes tearing through our streets that is driving the feeling of unsafe towns and villages. Add in the absence of CCTV coverage and police presence in key areas, and residents feel they have nowhere to turn.

The Portishead post office, which is in one of the largest towns in my constituency and a vital hub that Portishead residents and I campaigned tirelessly for, suffered two break-ins, one only a month after opening its doors in May 2025. Even next door in the village of Pill, where I live, I have seen a rise in antisocial behaviour, including bikes tearing up football pitches and even affecting a match. That is why I welcome the Government’s Bill and the safer streets mission that sets out clear priorities on neighbourhood policing and town centre crime. Part of the conversation should be about the fundamental changes we have seen on our high streets. We should look not with nostalgia, but at what we need our high streets to look like in future.

09:58

[Peter Fortune (Bromley and Biggin Hill) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank the hon. Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this important debate. The Government promised to strengthen neighbourhood policing. We have heard many well-intentioned but sadly empty words from Labour Members as their actions in London fall far short of the mark. Nowhere did they tell Londoners during the mayoral or general elections that they would cut £260 million from London’s police service, and yet that is exactly what they are doing.

Bromley might be one of the safest boroughs in London, but our town centres and villages still face acute policing challenges, from antisocial behaviour and shoplifting to car theft and burglary. We are simply not receiving the policing resources our community needs to tackle the issues. Together with the £22 million funding cut for Bromley council, my constituents in Bromley and Biggin Hill are being unfairly punished by this callous Government. As part of Mayor Khan’s sweeping cuts to the Metropolitan police, he is closing all but two of the 24-hour police counters across London. In doing so, he is breaking his manifesto promise to retain at least one 24-hour front counter in each borough—just as, incidentally, he is breaking his promise to protect the green belt. Bromley, despite being a major town centre with a busy nightlife, is one of the areas set to lose its round-the-clock police station service. On the evening of 23 March, lights will be turned off at Bromley’s police station. It will be a huge blow for public safety, further undermining confidence in the Met and hindering our brave police officers from doing what they do best, which is keeping our people safe.

Regardless of the outcome of any changes, I will keep fighting this closure all the way. If we do not stand up and say, “Enough is enough,” Sadiq Khan will break more manifesto promises and come back for even bigger cuts to policing in Bromley. It is clear that our town and city centres are not safe under Labour.

10:00

[Graeme Downie (Dunfermline and Dollar) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. Last Friday I was at a roundtable with local businesses, creative organisations and city centre groups in Dunfermline to discuss the safety of the town centre and how we can make Dunfermline a prosperous city in the future. What struck me was the unanimity of experience: people love their city and are committed to its future, but they feel that too much of the burden of improvement is falling on them, rather than being supported by different levels of Government.

Those at the roundtable spoke about day-to-day frustrations that shape how safe a city feels: graffiti that is not cleaned; broken cobbles left unrepaired; street furniture that has seen better days, and a lack of accessible parking, which makes the city centre more difficult for disabled residents. I also heard examples of vandalism and shop break-ins not being meaningfully followed up. Here we come to one of the key responsibilities devolved to the SNP Scottish Government: policing.

While frontline officers in Dunfermline and across Fife work incredibly hard, they are operating under sustained pressure from years of cuts, centralisation and under-investment. Dunfermline, with its heritage and potential future, has not received the kind of long-term planning and investment that it deserves from the Government at Holyrood, and that is also true of wider investment in Scotland’s towns and cities.

What was striking at the roundtable, however, was a sense of optimism—from places such as Café Wynd, Veneno Music Store and Caledonian Craft Beer Merchant, there was a clear pride in what Dunfermline has to offer. While many of the policy levers for direct intervention in the future success of Dunfermline lie in Holyrood, there are actions that the UK Government could and should take.

I hope the UK Government will consider Dunfermline as a pilot area for trialling any kind of tax incentives, which small businesses are calling for to support creation and innovation in town centres. We need a shared vision between the UK and Scottish Governments, Fife council and local businesses to deliver that future. Dunfermline has talent, ambition and enormous potential, and with the right support across both Scotland’s Governments, and a clear, shared and deliverable vision, it can become a leading example of how to build a safe, thriving and modern city centre in the 21st century.

10:02

[Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham Erdington) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this important debate. In my constituency, our local town centres are the beating heart of community life. Whether that is Erdington High Street, Slade Road, or Kingstanding shopping precinct on the Hawthorn Road, these hubs are vital to our local economy, culture and sense of belonging.

When I was first elected, Erdington High Street recorded some of the highest levels of crime in Birmingham. Working closely with West Midlands police and our police and crime commissioner, we secured £880,000 from the proceeds of crime fund to launch Operation Fearless. Through that initiative, officers have made substantial arrests for violence, theft and drug offences, seized dangerous weapons, and helped restore a sense of safety and order to the high street, showing that effective, sustained policing can make a real difference.

I urge the Minister to continue working closely with police forces, local authorities and community partners to support proven initiatives such as Operation Fearless, which demonstrate that sustained, community-focused policing can turn around our high streets, making them safe, welcoming and vibrant places at the heart of our communities.

10:04

[Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. Aylesbury has much to offer and huge potential, but we will fulfil that potential only if people feel safe when they are in town. Our police do a really good job, as do wonderful organisations such as Street Angels, but we have got to be honest about the challenges, of which I will briefly mention three.

First, the threats faced by our retail workers have surged in recent years. I met the assistant manager at one of the retailers at the shopping park in Aylesbury, and she showed me harrowing footage from her bodycam during a recent shoplifting incident. She kept remarkably calm and professional, but she was dealing with not just one individual, but a whole crowd of shoplifters who threatened her, surged the exit to the store and attacked her physically as well as verbally before making a dash for it.

That is far from the only time this has happened recently, and no retail worker should ever have to deal with that. I support the measures in the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which will introduce a new standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker, but I would like to hear more from the Minister about that.

Secondly, I want to highlight the persistent antisocial behaviour we see in our town. I met representatives from our local Pubwatch group, who described the antisocial behaviour that deters paying customers from coming into their premises. I hear from women in particular who say they do not feel safe walking down certain streets at night. I know that the Crime and Policing Bill includes measures to address this, such as the introduction of new respect orders, but I would be grateful if the Minister shared more about plans to continue tackling that blight on our town centres.

Thirdly, I want to make a point about root causes. While it is right that we tackle these threats to safety in our towns, we will not get far without also looking at what is behind them. We know that antisocial behaviour is often linked to drug and alcohol use, but it is also driven by lack of opportunity and hope. In my view, measures such as the Government’s youth strategy, which sets out a long-term plan to invest in safe spaces and opportunities for young people, will ultimately reduce the incentives for people to get into the kinds of activities that make our town centres unsafe, and instead give people a sense of hope and opportunity. I would like to hear more from the Minister on that.

10:06

[Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) on securing this important debate. Huddersfield is my home town, and I am so proud of it. Regeneration is on its way, including investments in Our Cultural Heart, the George hotel, the TransPennine route upgrade and the national health innovation campus at Huddersfield University.

Those investments are important because, like many towns across the north of England, Huddersfield has faced decades-long challenges from under-investment in our communities and town centres. That can be seen in the visible decline of our high streets, the increase in vape shops and stores dealing in counterfeit items—many of which are propped up by organised criminal networks—and in the drop in visible policing and growing concerns about public safety.

It is also apparent in the feeling that institutions, agencies and Governments have let our areas down, and in the lack of trust in us to deliver. On a recent visit to Kirklees college, one of the key concerns raised by students was safety and the perception of safety in the town centre. Those concerns have been echoed in my meetings with town centre business owners and in contacts with residents at coffee mornings.

I am proud to have stood on a manifesto that committed to supporting town centres, and we have seen that in the commitment to neighbourhood policing, which includes 12 additional officers in Huddersfield town centre. The Home Secretary announced plans to reform policing last week, which included the creation of a new police force to tackle serious crime and further restore neighbourhood policing. Those measures are all important, but will the Minister set out how we will tackle organised crime and county lines networks, and give us an update on the role of violence reduction units in providing youth-focused prevention networks in Huddersfield? More importantly, we must ensure that we continue to invest in young people. Investing in young people, alongside increasing policing and levels of infrastructure, is really important for our town centres.

10:08

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this important debate.

This issue comes up repeatedly with my local residents, who want to feel safe in our town—whether that is walking, shopping, eating or enjoying public spaces. Women and girls should feel safe at night. Families should be able to enjoy our town centre free from the fear of antisocial behaviour. As has already been mentioned, shop workers should not have the threat of retail crime hanging over them. I am really pleased that, after years of campaigning by the Co-operative party, that was included as a standalone offence in the Crime and Policing Bill.

We have made real progress in Ipswich over the past couple of years through a combination of Government initiatives in partnership with our hard-working police force. For example, the Clear, Hold, Build initiative has removed weapons and drugs from our streets, led to over 100 arrests, and resulted in charges and convictions totalling nearly 43 years. Other initiatives, such as Operation Spotlight over the summer, meant that police spent more than 1,700 extra hours patrolling the town centre in July and August, so there is real progress. We have seen crime fall in the last few years by 13%. I look forward to further legislation, which will make it much easier for councils to bring empty shops back into use and protect our high streets from unwanted businesses. There has been real progress in tackling some of those problems.

Although tackling crime is absolutely a priority, we cannot arrest our way out of the problems that we see on our high streets. That is why we are working hard in Ipswich to bring good, well-paid and secure jobs to the town. Whether it is at Sizewell C or Halo, hundreds of jobs will be created, and we are increasing footfall in our town centre—it has increased by 15%—by attracting people in. We are making progress, but there is much more to do. I thank the Government, and look forward to the Minister’s comments.

10:10

[Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I want my constituency, where beauty surrounds and health abounds, to be a place where everyone feels safe on the high street. There is still work to be done, but I am committed to doing that work alongside our local partners.

Central to that is the Government’s plan to put 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood roles by 2029. Those officers will be embedded in our communities, building relationships, preventing crime and responding quickly when crime occurs. Locally, there are some fantastic initiatives such as Safe Morecambe, which brings together the police, the business improvement district, the local authority, the community safety partnership and my office. Through funding from the police and crime commissioner, we are putting in place a street warden to help reassure residents further.

A key part of making our streets and town centres safe will be tackling the antisocial behaviour that people suffer, from vandalism to noise, and drug use to harassment. Those are the everyday issues that really upset people, quite rightly. To combat that, the Labour Government are bringing in respect orders, and local authorities are getting powers to issue higher fines and to seize those damned bikes and get them off the road. We are also cracking down on shoplifting and violence against retail staff. It is horrendous that people are going to work in fear of being assaulted.

However, it is not all doom and gloom. There have been some real successes in London under Mayor Sadiq Khan, where crime is at its lowest level since comparative records began. This shows that it can work.

[Luke Taylor (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)]

Does the hon. Member acknowledge that total crime figures are actually up over the last 15 years in London—from 87.1 crimes per thousand people in 2023-24 to 106.4 in 2024-25? Is she happy to correct the record and say that overall crime levels in London are up under Sadiq Khan?

[Lizzi Collinge]

I would welcome the hon. Gentleman sending me those statistics, but they go against all the other pieces of evidence I have seen, particularly for serious crime. Obviously there are spikes in particular crimes. Phone theft, for example, has been a real problem in London, as it has been elsewhere because they are now very high-value items. Online crime, as I discussed with one of my hon. Friends earlier, is becoming more prolific—people are being scammed and defrauded. The nature of crime has changed. I am very happy to look at all the evidence. All the evidence I have seen shows that serious crime in London is going down, and that is the result of co-ordinated policing efforts and public health measures because, in some respects, crime is a public health problem.

Visible policing, backed by good community relations and street-level intelligence, can work. It reassures communities and deters crime. That is the approach we need in Morecambe and Lunesdale and across the country—neighbourhood policing, targeted funding and practical local initiatives, such as Safe Morecambe, together with national action, such as the creation of a specific offence for an assault on a retail worker. We owe it to all our constituents and communities to make sure they feel safe in our town centres.

10:14

[Margaret Mullane (Dagenham and Rainham) (Lab)]

It is an honour to be here under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this debate. Many of my constituents are in regular contact with me about safety in their town centres and local high streets. If criminals are allowed to prevail, law abiding residents feel unsafe and are deterred from popping to their high street and town centre. That adds to the deterioration of our high streets and town centres, which have already had 14 years of Tory austerity to help that process along.

Closed shops, rubbish piling up and an over-concentration of vape shops, barbers and betting shops hardly encourage visits to our communities. High streets and town centre shops matter: we build relationships with our shops and community spaces. Unless the police are given greater resources to tackle shoplifting in places such as Dagenham and Rainham, my residents will be put off visiting the shops. I welcome the Pride in Place funding for Barking and Dagenham, but what we need to focus on—this is a big issue in my constituency—is that when criminals feel that they can get away with shoplifting, crime escalates. In Elm Park in my constituency, one shopworker was assaulted. When the criminals could not get what they wanted without paying in one shop, they ran into another, stole its cash and assaulted the shopworker. The human cost is terrible: that worker was traumatised.

Without a doubt, we all enjoy shopping online, but equally, we take joy in popping out and visiting our local shops. Local authorities should think about local start-up businesses with short leases, look at the areas where great things work and share best practice. The Government will give councils the power to say no to businesses that do not enhance their area. I heard my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government give a sterling defence of our town centres and high streets on Sunday. I welcome that renewed focus from the Government and hope that we start to see the investment that is much needed for our high streets to thrive again.

10:16

[Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this debate.

Town and city centres are the beating hearts of our communities. They are places where people come together to meet friends and family, and to complete daily tasks such as nipping to the Post Office or getting their weekly shop. They are places that help to combat loneliness and, at a time when society can feel so divided, they show that we have lots in common with each other. Places such as Dayus gift shop, Spelt & Rye and Cassidy’s are local businesses that represent the best of our towns, and places such as Hucknall and Ollerton represent the very finest of Nottinghamshire.

In my constituency, local businesses care about their community, but there is a dark side to our town centres that makes them feel unsafe to those for whom they are also a lifeline. Shoplifting has sadly become rampant in parts of my constituency such as Hucknall, where many local businesses have faced violent attacks from offenders who are often known to them and have targeted the same stores over and over again. What links much of this criminal activity is addiction, whether that is to alcohol or drugs—or perhaps even both. Ashfield police do an incredible job and are highly efficient, but sadly the criminals go back to those businesses again and again once they are released. Without intervention from across Government Departments, the system will continue to allow offenders to repeat these attacks, all while harming businesses on high streets and making residents feel unsafe.

Health has an important role to play. Years of local support services were absolutely decimated by the previous Government, which has left a gap in our communities and affected local businesses. Pride goes two ways, and for too long the previous Conservative Government let Sherwood Forest down. Enough is enough. I am proud that this Government are investing in communities long neglected by the Tories. By tackling shoplifting and antisocial behaviour through early intervention, tackling root causes and improving infrastructure to suit the needs of communities, we can make town centres safer.

10:18

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you for your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing the debate. York may have a purple flag, but the feeling of security is certainly not spread across my community. There are particular areas of crime where we have great concerns, such as bike and shop theft—I welcome the measures that the Government are taking on that—and personal safety across our city.

We have already heard about the challenges people face with substance misuse. We have to drive that public health model to ensure that there are safe places people can use, and that they get the help and public health support that they need. We also need to go upstream and ensure that we are addressing the waves of county lines, which come into the city of York and cause much disturbance. We must ensure that we have early intervention and a seamless approach to youth services in our city. I called two meetings—

[Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a great speech, outlining the need for more youth services. In Darlington, I have called for the council to apply a public spaces protection order, which would allow them to remove balaclava-wearing people who commit anti-social behaviour. We are seeing an escalation in such activity from young people, who are trying to be “the big man” in the town and wearing balaclavas to hide their identity from the police. What is her view on that?

[Rachael Maskell]

I thank my hon. Friend for all the work she is doing in Darlington. Clearly, PSPOs can be used in a really powerful way to create safer spaces in our town and city centres.

I called two meetings in York, one for the night-time economy in the city and one for the daytime economy, because they operate in very different ways. I called together all the agencies involved to examine, first, where the strategies for the two economies can be co-ordinated and come together, and, secondly, the specific issues for each economy.

The issue that came to the fore was CCTV and ensuring that there is a proper strategy for it, including making sure that cameras are switched on, are in the right places and are of the right resolution, so that we can identify crime. I am working with agencies across our city to ensure that we have proper CCTV protection. I am also looking at how we can ensure there is co-ordination across the different agencies that work in our city, which is really important.

However, the words that come to the fore so often are that we need more bobbies on the beat. We need more police on our streets, and there is also an issue with the funding formula for policing. When I spoke to our deputy mayor for police and crime, they highlighted the real challenges in areas such as North Yorkshire, which is a huge rural area with crime hotspots in our urban spaces. I ask the Minister to look at that funding formula again.

Let me briefly mention Unite’s important campaign, Get Me Home Safely—I declare my interest as regards Unite. We need to ensure that our taxis are safer. I want to ask the Minister what has happened since Casey’s recommendation on changing taxi licensing regimes. We operate a safe taxi licensing process in York. We want to ensure that there is such a process in the city, and that we have the resources to control and monitor it. Will she also consider how we can protect our transport staff? I know that the RMT has campaigned hard for that, because it is so important.

In closing, I thank all the agencies that keep our city safe.

10:22

[Naushabah Khan (Gillingham and Rainham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure, Mr Dowd, to speak under your chairship.

Our town centres are the heart of our communities. They give our towns identity and define how we interact with where we live. However, it is that very interaction that means people also need to feel safe, secure and welcome in town centres. That is certainly true in my constituency and in my home town of Gillingham, where the high street has become a visible sign of decline. Unfortunately, we are plagued by antisocial behaviour, graffiti, drug activity and knife crime.

Our brilliant local police officers—Marcus, Matt and Issy—do a fantastic job in visibly patrolling our town centre, which shows the difference that community policing can make, but the fact remains that Gillingham town centre is in the top national decile for crime and residents just do not feel safe. That did not just happen overnight. It comes after chronic underinvestment by the former Conservative council and the damaging impacts of austerity under the former Government, which left Gillingham forgotten.

My town centre is a reflection of how reduced civic investment has changed the character and feel of town centres. Despite that, I have hope for the future, because there are opportunities for change. The announcement of the Pride in Place scheme by the Government is a significant step in the right direction.

Additionally, in partnership with Medway Council I have established a taskforce that adopts a multi-agency approach, working with the police, local councillors and other stakeholders to address the challenges that we face. Off the back of that work, we have launched the Love Gillingham initiative, convening a community panel of residents, stakeholders and businesses who have the same passion and vision for their town centre. I would argue such a holistic community-centred approach, which is also tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, is needed, alongside national Government interventions, to truly ensure that our town centres across the country are safer and more vibrant.

10:23

[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

In October last year, I ran a community meeting in partnership with Catriona Munro, who is Labour’s candidate for Holyrood in the Edinburgh South Western constituency. One of the key things that was brought up was the activity of food delivery companies. At the heart of this activity is what some would call a precarious business model, based on precarious work, which essentially exploits these workers and encourages them to drive illegal e-bikes in quite a reckless manner. In November last year, outside my constituency office, the police managed to impound 13 of these e-bikes. Just imagine what they could do if they were fully funded.

[Lola McEvoy]

My hon. Friend is eloquently making a point about the funding given to the police to eradicate e-bike crime. Does he agree that we would be in a better position if we had more bobbies on bikes? Perhaps the Minister will talk about that in her speech.

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

Order. We do not have very much longer. I want to get other Members in, and the Minister and the Opposition spokespeople need the opportunity to speak. I am not telling the hon. Gentleman not to take interventions, but I will end up cutting somebody out of the debate if he does.

[Dr Arthur]

Thank you, Mr Dowd. I appreciate that guidance.

We absolutely need more police, but unfortunately their budget was cut in Scotland last year, which has made their job even harder. I recently wrote to Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat. They track their riders’ every move, and they say that despite knowing where they are all the time, they cannot use their apps to track their speeds and whether they are riding recklessly unless I know the order number for the thing that is being delivered. I find that absolutely incredible. I have, however, been offered a place on the Deliveroo rider training course—it will be interesting to see what that comprises. It is really disappointing that the companies are not taking more ownership of the problem.

I approached the Minister for road safety, my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood), and she confirmed that the Government will launch a national work-related road safety charter. I really hope the food delivery companies engage with it constructively, but I have my doubts that it will change matters on the ground. Recklessness and exploitation of their workers is fundamental to those companies’ business model, and we need to address that. I hope the Government will legislate if the companies do not step up.

It was said earlier that the Government must take seriously their powers to manage the import and sale of these illegal bikes, and I agree. I find it absolutely incredible that people can buy them given that, in most of our constituencies, there is nowhere that they can ride them. I hope the Minister will address that point too.

10:27

[Jodie Gosling (Nuneaton) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this debate.

Nuneaton town centre, like many of our town centres, used to be a source of pride. Our vibrant markets stretched all the way through town, down Queens Road, through market square and back down Abbey Street. Every shop was full, bustling with shoppers. Over the past decade, like many of our town centres, it has taken a hammering and has suffered significant decline. Shops have been boarded up, and the market has been reduced to an echo of its former self. Crime—shoplifting, serious organised crime, drugs and antisocial behaviour—has become commonplace.

A few years ago, my teenager—like many parents’ teenagers—was in town on a Saturday, and a Facebook post popped up showing police cordons around the town centre, with a flippant comment, “Nunny got a bit stabby”. It culminated in the tragic and fatal stabbing of one of our local lads, a gentle giant, Tom Ellis, in June 2024.

Since my election, I have been driven to change the future of Nuneaton town centre, alongside the ambitious Labour council, and we are progressing rapidly with transformation work. The market is growing back, and in March our transformation project, Grayson Place, will be completed. We await the opening of food halls, college campuses, event spaces and the first championship padel centre.

I have made it my priority to meet senior officers from our local safer neighbourhoods team, walk the town, and talk to businesses, market stall traders and shoppers. I welcome the return of our designated town centre officer. I also welcome the investment of £1.5 million from the Government’s Pride in Place impact fund for our town centre, alongside £1.4 million in neighbourhood funding. We are working together with organisations such as the police, the business improvement district, our town centre wardens and our brilliant councillors, such as Councillor Nicky King, to co-ordinate the approach and rescue our town centre.

10:29

[Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. Tackling crime and antisocial behaviour has been a priority in my constituency since my election. Countless residents have told me they feel unsafe. Bournemouth faces seasonal pressures, where millions of people visit our beaches and parks during the summer. Last year, we had a slew of negative headlines about chaos, decline and lawlessness, but the crime statistics show a completely different picture. Bournemouth is consistently in the top 20—if not top 10—safest cities, or large towns in our case. Yes, serious incidents occur, but they are trending downwards. Shoplifting is rife. I do not want to minimise that or people’s experience of it, but in my limited time I want to understand why fear feels so real for so many people when crime is relatively low.

I recently met a resident who told me he does not let his 12 and 14-year-old daughters go out after 3 pm or 4 pm in Bournemouth. Yet when they went up to Regent Street he let them wander around and go off shopping on their own. Crime rates in Bournemouth are 16% lower than the national average. They are 130% higher in Westminster—an area that has 8% of London’s crime. I do not say that to minimise or to denigrate Westminster, but safety is not only about where the crime happens; it is also about whether the shops are filled and the streets busy, clean and looked after, and about confidence and pride, and feeling reassured and protected.

Since my election I have been relentlessly focused on funding for our police, with £1 million for hotspot policing over the summer, 40 new officers for Dorset police, and it is why I relentlessly bang on to the Minister about the funding formula. Safety was a key theme of our Bournemouth town centre citizens’ panel. The panel called for four things: a co-ordinated women’s safety initiative, improved co-ordination of positive safety initiatives, awareness of CCTV effectiveness, and a lighting audit to highlight low and high lighting areas in the town. These sit alongside actions designed to improve the public realm, spur regeneration, fill our streets and restore civic pride. I will certainly be playing my part in all of these.

10:31

[Phil Brickell (Bolton West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. Let me start by thanking Westhoughton South councillor John McHugh for his campaigning for measures to tackle antisocial behaviour in Westhoughton, to give residents and firms the confidence they need to go about their business. John has worked extensively with me and with Greater Manchester police, and many of his efforts are not publicly commended but they should be.

Our town centres are the hearts of our communities, which is why I welcome the Government’s new Pride in Place funding for Bolton West. But regeneration, whether in Bolton or Blackrod, Horwich or Westhoughton, will only succeed if we resolutely confront one of the biggest threats to our town centres—high street economic crime. In towns across this country, cash-intensive businesses are being used to launder criminal money, evade tax and undercut legitimate traders. These acts are not victimless. They are predatory. They enable organised crime and drug dealing, drain the public finances, and drive honest businesses out. That is why the Government’s safer streets mission must include tackling economic crime. If there is one thing I know after tackling bribery and corruption for more than a decade, it is that if we want safer streets, we must follow the money.

It is not just an issue of putting more police officers on the streets. Having met officers from Greater Manchester police’s economic crime unit, it is clear to me that any lasting efforts to address and increase safety in our towns must also rely on provision for specialist financial investigators within the police, to go after the same criminal actors who feed off our high streets, carrying out their business in plain sight. I welcome the Government’s decision in the latest Budget to establish a high street criminality taskforce, but for it to work, high street economic crime must be treated as a systemic national threat, with regeneration funding aligned to enforcement. That has to include stronger licensing and registration in high-risk sectors and tougher action against phoenix companies and against serial non-payment of tax and business rates. We can look to what the Dutch have done with their Bibob Act, which has set the way on tackling high street money laundering and been very effective over the years. We also need to see far better data sharing between different trading standards teams, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Companies House, the police, and local authorities.

10:33

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I will make two brief points—one per minute. The first is around Rugby town centre and how the police officers, community wardens and BID rangers all work together to ensure that it is safe. Will the Minister look at whether borough or district council-run community wardens can play a really powerful role in defeating antisocial behaviour and criminality at the sub-policing level?

My second point is about children and young people carrying out antisocial behaviour and criminality in our town centres. There was a recent case in Rugby in which the police made several arrests of young people for antisocial behaviour and criminality. Those officers made every possible effort to work collaboratively across agencies to avoid going down the criminal route with arrests. In some circumstances, however, it is sadly necessary to make arrests, particularly when members of the public, visitors, businesses and others are badly affected.

Will the Minister set out her thoughts on the Government’s approach to antisocial behaviour and criminality among young people, given that the respect orders in the Crime and Policing Bill apply only to people over 16? That potentially leaves a gap for powers available to police and others in that regard. We need to ensure there is no lawlessness on our streets. Irrespective of the age of the perpetrator, we do everything we can to avoid arrests, but we must ensure that police have the powers they need.

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

That was the final Back-Bench speech. With the forbearance of those on the Front Bench, I wanted to get in all hon. Members, given the importance of and interest shown in the debate. I would be grateful if they would bear that in mind in their responses. I call Luke Taylor, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

10:36

[Luke Taylor (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)]

Thank you, Mr Dowd. I also thank the hon. Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for calling this important debate. No one can live freely live under the fear of crime. Across London and in boroughs such as mine in Sutton, that freedom begins and ends with residents feeling safe to use their town centres and high streets. It is where people come together and shop, and in this day and age, it is one of the last truly public spaces left.

When our constituents cannot see police on their high streets, they do not feel protected and are left feeling powerless. Their sense of security slips and changes how they live their daily lives. High street footfall drops, shops close earlier, parents worry, and women are forced to plan their routes home with keys clenched in their fists. Londoners should feel safe in their everyday routines without being threatened by an illegal e-bike tearing across the pavement, the fear of their phone being snatched from their hand, or being forced to put up with antisocial, disrespectful behaviour.

Let me be clear: no matter what certain right-wing politicians say—fortunately, they are absent today—London is largely a safe city. Figures for serious crime in the capital are falling, which should be celebrated. The murder rate is at the lowest level in London since 2014 and violent crime in the city is down by 12% compared with 2024, though up by around 30% in 10 years.

Improving figures for the most serious crimes contrasts with an increase in more visible crimes such as shoplifting, up 19% in London this year. The same is tragically true for sexual assaults, which are up by more than 10,000 in a decade, from 16,100 in 2016 to 26,800 in 2025. All crime reporting in London is up from 87.1 per thousand in 2016 to 106.4 in 2025, all under Mayor Khan’s watch and Government funding deals decided by Conservative Ministers.

Those are sobering reminders that crimes that make life miserable—or, in the case of sexual assault, terrifying—are up despite the positive headlines. The lived experience of my constituents tells a far more uncomfortable story than the picture that the mayor and the Government want to paint. It is particularly heartbreaking for women and girls, who have faced under-reported violence on our streets for decades and had hoped that, as society finally begins to shine a spotlight on gendered violence, visible and proactive policing would finally rise to meet the challenge. Instead, they have to bear witness to the erosions of such policing.

Between 2015 and 2025, the number of Metropolitan police officers stayed almost static at around 32,000 full- time equivalents. As our cities become more complex, new crimes and dangers have developed and the population has grown by more than 500,000 people, the Metropolitan police has not. Just last year, under Sadiq Khan’s leadership and a Labour Government, the Metropolitan police lost more than 1,400 officers and staff—a cut of over 4%.

I expect the Minister will talk about decisions made by some of my predecessors up to 16 years ago as a reason for Labour’s failure properly to fund the Met this year, but the responsibility sits squarely on the shoulders of a Labour Government and a Labour mayor. For Londoners, those cuts are a kick in the teeth. Police officers should not seem a novelty. They should be spotted on the street and not thought unusual.

[Dr Arthur]

Does the hon. Member agree that if we are serious about making London safer—as we all want it to be; we all spend a lot of time here—supporting the use of facial recognition to identify known criminals would make a difference? His party opposes that.

[Luke Taylor]

I genuinely thank the hon. Member for his contribution; he must have read my next paragraph.

CCTV cameras and facial recognition tech watching and monitoring us going about our business cannot replace a friendly face with a welcoming smile and advice on getting assistance for a lost phone or mislaid keys. I fear that as funding for the Metropolitan police continues to be stretched thinner and thinner, that reassurance will begin to all but disappear. Having walked the streets of Sutton with my local police unit, I have seen at first hand the strain caused by falling officer numbers. My high street team has been cut from 11 to four. They are doing extraordinary work, but they are being asked to cover more ground and respond to more incidents with fewer colleagues by their side.

Sometimes I fear that there is a dangerous strain of make-believe in this debate: the belief that police capacity can grow without the financial backing to support it. No one has been clearer about that than the Metropolitan police commander, Sir Mark Rowley. Last year he warned of severe consequences as the Met faced a £260 million funding gap. Even after emergency support reduced a much larger deficit, the pressures have not gone away, and policing capability in the capital continues to be eroded as we speak. Within the Met’s specialist teams, the flying squad, firearms teams and the Royal Parks police are all set to be cut, to say nothing of school liaison officers, who do some of the most important work in restoring and embedding trust in the police in the next generation and stopping the dangerous spread of youth violence at its root. Those units form the backbone of serious crime prevention in our capital.

In recent weeks, we have been told that structural reforms will save the day. There have been proposals for mergers to create mega-forces, which apparently will do more for less. Police reform without proper funding is not fixing the problem; at best, it is delaying it and at worst, it is putting greater pressure on the cracks that are already showing. The changes set out in the police reform White Paper must be done right. I want to press the Minister for clarity on what the reforms will mean, particularly for the Metropolitan police.

At a time when visible policing is so hard to achieve, we would expect priority to be given to those last vestiges of accessible law enforcement—police front counters. But no: having already lost police officers and stations and with a £260 million shortfall to plug, Londoners are now being asked to stomach the closure of counters across the city, leaving most of London a police access desert. The 12 complete closures and the loss of 24-hour counters in 25 other locations touch every part of London. A 24/7 counter in every borough gone—another broken promise from Mayor Khan.

When those counters close, people lose the sense that police officers are present and accessible in their community. We can all see and agree on that, so it beggars belief that just last week, both Labour and Green assembly members voted against Lib Dem proposals for a funded moratorium on these closures. How can they expect Londoners to put their trust in them if they will not back us on this most basic of campaigns? The Liberal Democrats across London are calling not just for this to be stopped, but for more properly funded police front desks in every community based in local hubs such as libraries, shopping centres and town halls. That would allow people to report crimes and share information with the police face-to-face in convenient locations.

To conclude, I simply ask the Minister this: when can our police forces expect to see the investment they deserve? What assessment are the Government making on an ongoing basis of the impact of below-inflation funding increases on the viability of community policing? Why, when the Government claim to want to restore community policing, will they not intervene when their own party’s mayor is driving policing in the opposite direction in the capital?

10:44

[Matt Vickers (Stockton West) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank the hon. Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this important debate.

Town and city centres are the lifeblood of our local communities. They are crucial for people, local businesses and our economy, yet under this Labour Government it increasingly feels as though our town and city centres are being not supported but attacked—attacked by a jobs tax that raises the cost of employing people, by surging business rates that punish employers and enterprise, and by relentless pressure on pubs and small businesses, the very places that make our high streets sociable, welcoming and safe. The result is plain to see: businesses are closing. And when businesses are closing, confidence drains away.

Thriving town centres are not just about economics; they are about safety. Communities with busy, successful high streets are more likely to report crime, look out for one another and defend what they value. That brings me—

[Dr Arthur]

Will the hon. Member give way on that point?

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

Order.

[Matt Vickers]

That brings me to Stockton, which has a great high street and incredible local businesses. I always encourage people to support Stockton, but I would be negligent in my duty if I did not acknowledge the challenges it faces—challenges that did not arrive overnight. Over decades, Stockton’s Labour council has allowed the town centre to decline and become home to unacceptable levels of crime and antisocial behaviour. When disorder grew, enforcement weakened. When problems became visible, excuses multiplied.

The council’s priorities tell their own story. Instead of employing more civic enforcement officers or street wardens—the people who provide visible reassurance—the council has expanded layers of management on six-figure salaries. It has recently emerged that Stockton-on-Tees borough council spent £15.8 million on recruitment consultants in just three years. Money that could have gone into keeping the town centre safe was instead swallowed up by consultants and questionable spending decisions. Councils have a duty to spend public money wisely, and in Stockton that duty has too often been neglected.

At the same time, instead of using all the powers available through public space protection orders to clamp down on antisocial behaviour, the council’s soft approach has allowed far too much of it to go unchallenged. Worse still, Stockton’s Labour council volunteered itself as an asylum dispersal authority, taking on a completely disproportionate number of asylum seekers. For many years, Stockton has had one of the highest ratios of asylum seekers to residents in the entire country. Those asylum seekers are largely housed near the town centre, placing pressure on accommodation, public services and integration, and leaving large numbers of lone men congregating in the town centre, causing understandable concern for residents and businesses alike.

The situation has been compounded by the council’s permissive approach to housing. It has allowed large numbers of houses in multiple occupation, bedsits and bail accommodation to cluster around the town centre. The result is predictable: people stop visiting, businesses close and crime goes unreported. That creates a doom loop, and Labour councils across the country have perfected it.

What we now see nationally is Stockton scaled up. Since the Labour Government came to power, there are 1,318 fewer police officers on our streets and more than 3,000 fewer people working in policing overall. That is not an accident: it is a choice. Police chiefs warn of a funding shortfall of £500 million. In my local force, the Labour police and crime commissioner says there is a £2.4 million gap—the equivalent of 40 police officers.

Even when offenders are caught, punishment is increasingly optional. Labour’s early release policies mean that criminals are back on the streets sooner—sometimes within weeks—so shopkeepers see the same faces returning, residents see the same behaviour repeated, and police officers see their work unravelled by decisions taken far from their communities. The consequences are clear: shoplifting is rising and the robbery of business property has surged. The Government tell us that crime is under-reported; if that is true, it only strengthens the case for more police, not fewer.

The Government point to measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, but targets mean little if officer numbers are falling. Warm words do not patrol streets. Conservatives believe that safety is not a luxury, but a foundation on which everything else depends. That is why we back our police. That is why we are committed to recruiting 10,000 more officers. That is why we support visible, proactive policing in the places that need it most.

Before the Minister tells us once again that a strategy is in place, may I ask a very simple question? Will she commit today that no police force will lose yet more officers as a result of the Government’s next spending review, or should communities prepare for even fewer police on the streets? That leads me to a second, unavoidable question: does she expect communities to feel safer when there are fewer police, criminals are being released early and Labour councils refuse to use the powers they already have to tackle antisocial behaviour, or is managed decline now official Government policy? Fewer police, early release and unenforced laws are not unfortunate side effects; they are policy choices, and our town centres are paying the price.

10:50

[The Minister for Policing and Crime (Sarah Jones)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for his brilliant speech. Apart from anything else, I want to visit the Hairy Dog and see all the wonderful things that are happening in my hon. Friend’s patch. I thank him for telling the story of his very strong community and its resilience in the face of the challenges we all want to overcome.

I want to praise the Members of Parliament who have come to this debate to represent their constituents. We are all reading, with increasing fury, about the behaviours of the former ambassador to the United States, and it is the MPs in this debate who represent the very best of what politics is about. We are in this job because we want to make our streets safer and our communities better, and to bring pride to the people we represent, and that is what Members have done in this debate. The snake oil salesmen, like those from the Reform party, who go on television and tell us we are a crime-ridden nation do not come to these debates to have these discussions. I am afraid they do not have the answers. The MPs who are present to speak up for their constituents and to demand answers, to demand better and to demand more bring out the best of what politics is for and what we are all in this business for.

I also want to speak in praise of our police. I recently met the first responders from the Huntingdon attack. Such bravery is quite extraordinary, and we ask that of our police every day. They go out and face danger, and we should always thank them.

The hon. Members for Sutton and Cheam (Luke Taylor) and for Stockton West (Matt Vickers) seem to forget that as Opposition spokespeople they represent their party and the nation. They spoke mostly about Sutton and Stockport rather than actual national policies. I ask them to think about what their parties have done in previous years. I will take no lessons whatever from the Conservative party, which slashed 20,000 police and then, in a rush to bring them back, put them behind desks. For example, around the country we now have 250 warranted police officers who are working in human resources. We will put police back where they belong: on our streets.

I will give Members a couple of good updates before I tackle some of the challenges we must overcome. First, the knife crime statistics that came out last week show that since this Government came to power knife crime is down 8%. We have taken 60,000 knives off the street, knife murders are down 27% and hospital admissions are down 11%. The Government will not shy away from doing everything we can to tackle serious violence and knife crime. Violence is not inevitable; we will not accept it and we will keep bearing down on it. I thank all those who have played their part in tackling that epidemic.

As so many Members have eloquently said, we know that the epidemic of everyday crime in our communities drives a sense of a lack of safety. I can tell Members that there are now 2,400 more officers in our neighbourhoods than there were when we came to power. There will be 3,000 more by March, and there will be 13,000 more by the end of the Parliament. Our communities are calling out for officers to be in our neighbourhoods tackling crime and doing the things we ask them to do, rather than being burdened by bureaucracy, which we will take away through new technology in our police reforms. Officers and PCSOs are the people who will help us to tackle the epidemic of everyday crime.

Members asked me to respond on many issues, but sadly I do not have the time. It would be remiss of me not to point out to the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) that London will have 420 extra neighbourhood officers on its streets by March, and has received a £180 million increase in its budget this year.

Many Members talked about retail crime, and we are making changes in the Crime and Policing Bill that will help on that. Through our big summer of action, and the winter of action we have just completed, we have seen real results when there is good working among retailers, police and the charitable organisations that help with, for example, drug addiction, which is a driver of retail crime. My area has seen a substantial reduction in retail crime thanks to the persistent offender approach, whereby we go after those people. Some 80% of retail crime is committed by 20% of offenders, and most of them have a drug addiction of some kind. We have to join the dots and make sure that we give people the treatment they need and that they face up to the crimes they have committed.

Some Members talked about organised crime, and violence reduction units were also mentioned. I am proud to say that we are funding violence reduction units this year to increase their effectiveness. They do an absolutely brilliant job. We of course have to tackle the issues that lie behind the crime and not just the crime itself.

Members talked about what was happening in their constituencies. My hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) talked about the street wardens in Morecambe. Street wardens are an interesting model, as we have seen over the winter.

My hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) talked about taxi licensing. I have seen some good work with taxi marshals who help to identify unlicensed taxi drivers and to protect and support women and young girls, who do not feel as safe as we want them to when they are out in our communities.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell) talked about economic crime, which we have talked about previously, and he was absolutely right. Many Members talked about the increase in the number of vape shops or other shops that we know are actually laundering money. I know the police are dealing with that—I have been on a raid with them to tackle it—but my hon. Friend is right that more needs to be done.

Members will forgive me for not having looked once at my prepared speech. [Laughter.] The Government are doing many things that are designed to crack down on crime, but I want to end my speech in time for my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South to respond.

I had the honour of meeting the family of Danny, who was murdered in my hon. Friend’s constituency. He wanted me to meet the family, and I did. We all know the horror that crime can cause in our constituencies, whether that is everyday crime or the most horrific crime. The Government will not rest until we have tackled the issues that our constituents put us here to tackle. I thank everyone for taking part in the debate.

10:58

[Baggy Shanker]

It is great to speak under your chairship again, Mr Dowd. I thank all Members for their contributions and interventions. I remind the Lib Dem spokesperson that the UK extends beyond London’s boundaries, and I remind the shadow Minister that the debate was about town and city centre safety—maybe he picked up the wrong notes.

Collectively, we have managed to highlight the serious issues that constituents across the UK want Ministers to hear. I put on the record my thanks to the Minister for meeting the family of Gurvinder Singh Johal, as she did recently, and for her reassurance that the Government have already increased policing numbers by 2,400. I look forward to getting that number to 13,000 during this Parliament, as she says.

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

I thank everybody for their forbearance—everyone got in to speak—and the Front Benchers for their slightly truncated responses.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered town and city centre safety.