Oral Answers to Questions

James Asser Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

I recognise the strength of feeling and the experiences of all these victims and survivors of the most appalling abuse. I am pleased that justice was sought through the criminal justice system in this case, because too often victims do not come forward at all. The hon. Lady will know that the Ministry of Justice is focused on ensuring that we do not run out of prison places in this country. Over the 14 years of the Conservative Government, only 500 places were added to the whole of the prison estate. It is a crisis that I directly inherited when I came into government, and I know how precarious the number of prison places in this country has been. I hope she will agree that, for all victims and survivors, the most important thing is to make sure that we never run out of prison places in this country again.

[James Asser (West Ham and Beckton) (Lab)]

5. What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the high streets organised crime unit.

[Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)]

7. What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the high streets organised crime unit.

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[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Shabana Mahmood)]

Last year saw over 3,000 illegitimate premises raided and nearly 1,000 arrests, and I have provided £30 million of additional funding over the next three years to go even further. As a result, thousands more businesses will be raided, hundreds of people will be arrested and millions in cash will be seized as part of a permanent national crackdown.

[James Asser]

High street crime and shoplifting remain key concerns for my constituents, who have seen some pretty awful examples. My local police have had some successes, and they are running local initiatives on high streets that are starting to deliver results. Given that there will be other such examples around the country, will the Home Secretary make sure that, as well as the national initiatives, we are gathering together localised initiatives and local successes, and sharing good practice, to make sure that we are bringing it all together as part of an attempt to clean up our high streets?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I pay tribute to the work that is happening in my hon. Friend’s local area. I reassure him that we in the Home Office are working very closely with our colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of the Government’s wider strategy for high streets. This is a criminality-focused crackdown to deal with some of those businesses that we know are front organisations for other criminal behaviour, but we will work closely with our colleagues, and I will ensure that all the good examples are used as a spur for others to take action too.

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[James Asser (West Ham and Beckton) (Lab)]

T3.   Recently, I witnessed an attempted phone snatch outside one of my stations by three masked youths on electric bikes; fortunately, they were unsuccessful, but residents raised this as major concern at a community neighbourhood safety forum. Will my hon. Friend outline what progress we are making against tackling phone theft? Does she agree that the phone companies should do much more to ensure that criminals cannot profit from phone snatching?

[Sarah Jones]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Operation Reckoning is delivering the Met’s largest ever enforcement response to phone theft. In the 12 months to May, phone theft in London fell by 18% on the previous year, and it pretty much halved in the west end, where we see most of that occur. He is right that phone companies need to do more. If phone theft does not continue to fall, we will take further action.