Retail Crime: Effects

Baroness Crawley Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Crawley (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Hannett for introducing this vital debate. There can surely be no doubt that the scale of shop theft in the United Kingdom represents a national crisis. We seem, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hazarika, has said, to be no longer a nation of shopkeeping but a nation of shop-thieving, as the most recent set of statistics makes all too clear. It was good to see that a distinct offence of assaults on retail workers was heralded by the Government in the King’s Speech a few months ago and updated this week. I hope that USDAW’s “freedom from fear” campaign can move forward on that basis, and I thank my noble friend Lord Hannett for the part he has played in that over many years.

In the town closest to where I live, there are increasingly signs in shops asking people to be respectful to staff. In some ways, this is a good thing, but shoppers should require no reminder to be civil. I know people who, however financially challenged they may be in life, would never dream of stealing so much as a chocolate bar from a store. I also know people who take hourly paid jobs in shops, largely out of family financial necessity and certainly not out of a craving for that kind of work. Both sets of people deserve to be protected from rising prices, the inevitable consequence of so much shop theft, and from abuse, violence and anti-social behaviour, whatever its genesis, be it drugs, drink, organised crime or, as the noble Lord, Lord Monks, said, economic poverty.

We cannot rejuvenate the high street and put a stop to physical dereliction with such an epidemic of tawdry crime hanging in the air, nor grow our local economies or create new opportunities for the new independents who want to get going locally. Shopping malls and high streets should collectively be a space for comfort and quality, not a venue waiting to be exploited by thugs, vandals and, increasingly, gangs stealing on demand. In every sense of the term, shops are a place where decent people try to make a living. The scale of intimidation, as we have heard from many noble Lords, that they face in too many parts of the country is socially unacceptable and economically damaging. The courts and the police must really start playing their part. As we know, shop theft is not a victimless crime. Somebody pays for it in the end—you and me—as the noble Lord, Lord Kirkham, said. Meanwhile, staff and small business owners should not be fearful about going to work and that they will be abused, threatened or worse, as we have heard.

USDAW has welcomed the announcement from the Government that they will introduce new respect orders as part of the crime and policing Bill. They give the police and councils powers to crack down on repeated anti-social behaviour, ensuring that repeat offenders face the consequences of their actions. These new powers, announced this week, come alongside a commitment to fund thousands more neighbourhood officers and PCSOs. New legislation will also remove the threshold of so-called low-value shoplifting offences—I am afraid those days are long gone. Paddy Lillis, USDAW’s general secretary, has said:

“After years of the Conservatives effectively decriminalising retail crime, leading to a more than doubling in shoplifting since the pandemic, we now have a Government that is delivering on its promise to bring town centre crime under control”.


The impact of retail crime on businesses, workers and communities has been horrific. Customer theft is the biggest source of financial loss for businesses. In 2022-23, businesses spent £1.2 billion on increasing their security systems. This represented an astounding 65% increase on the previous year. The Retail Trust’s 2024 survey of over 1,000 retail workers found that 47% of them really feared for their safety at work. That is a dreadful statistic, but the retailers have become fatalistic about whether reporting crime will produce any results.

This is where the Government’s recent announcements bring us some hope, finally. The Government recognise the scale of the issue and are determined to do something about it—the sooner the better. We cannot continue where we are. The old ways are just not working.