High Street Shops: Illicit Activity

Jen Craft Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Alex Ballinger]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Why are they wrapping the windows? The first question must be: what are they trying to hide? We want our town centres to be welcoming, warm and open. That practice is completely against that type of approach.

Could the Minister tell me whether the Government are considering similar measures to the Dutch Bibob Act? There are also far too many loopholes in Companies House, which BBC research reveals is wide open to abuse. Our dodgy shops group is proposing that greater powers be given to Companies House to identify and clamp down on fake company directors, with escalating fines or a “three strikes and you’re out” system.

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

In my patch in Thurrock, we unsurprisingly do not have a lot of London tourist tat shops, which are synonymous with dodgy directors changing hands every few weeks. We do, however, have a number of really suspect home goods shops, which sell goods that are often faulty. People have no recourse to a refund if the products go wrong, because the shops change hands every three to six months. Does my hon. Friend agree that we must do more to crack down on such evasion of responsibility by businesses changing hands through Companies House?

[Alex Ballinger]

I agree, and I hope the Government are looking to close some of the loopholes at Companies House and strengthen oversight of fake directors who are abusing the system.

Finally, I am concerned about whether landlords can be complicit in the organised crime that we see. We propose increasing the transparency and accountability of landlords to deter complicity, but also more support for law-abiding landlords to take action against tenants suspected of breaking the law. Will the Minister say more about whether the Government are considering increasing that accountability and the power of landlords to help to deal with illegality on our high streets?

Cradley Heath High Street used to be the thriving heart of our community. I was appalled but not surprised to see drug dealing in the open in one of the shops in our town. Through under-resourcing and inattention, we have allowed the problem of dodgy shops to become a visible stain on our communities, so I welcome the Government’s really positive steps on that so far. The new taskforce, tougher powers and more resources will make a significant difference, but I call for those resources to be focused on the Black Country, which is becoming more of a hotspot, as people have heard in my speech today. I would like the Government to consider doing even more and at whether we could look abroad for lessons on further tools to use to prevent more dodgy shops from opening. I am referring to licensing, registration and requirements for landlords who knowingly or unknowingly facilitate organised crime. We need to get our high streets back to being the law-abiding, beating heart of our towns that we all want to see.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) on securing this important debate. I also congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) and for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) on their work to combat dodgy shops.

As is evident from the number of Members here—particularly Labour Members—this issue concerns many of our constituencies. Sadly, my Thurrock constituency is not immune to dodgy shops and illegality and criminality on the high street. Like others, we have seen a massive proliferation of vape shops and barber shops, as well as—if not mini-marts—very odd home goods shops springing up out of nowhere, with two or three competitors directly opposite, and selling goods that probably explode the minute they are turned on and are no good for anyone. Those phoenix shops close down or change hands after five to six months, evading tax, evading business rates and providing no good and no use to the town at all.

Indeed, one such shop, on Grays High Street in my local town, now does not even bother to remove the merchandise or move it around; it just sticks a Sharpie-written sign up on the door every six months saying that it is under new management, which is absolutely appalling. We know where the issues lie: spending on trading standards has been reduced by around 50% over the last decade.

[Jodie Gosling]

Considering the strength of feeling and the level of criminality that we have heard about, does my hon. Friend not find it shocking that, on top of long-term cuts of £100,000 in its medium-term forecasts, Warwickshire county council has just frozen £55,000 that was allocated to tackling rogue traders?

[Jen Craft]

That is indeed shocking and very short-sighted.

The real issue in my area is that our council is under intervention, so its ability to plan and take enforcement action, and to put planning conditions on town centres to better reflect what people are after—rather than the best way for businesses to turn a profit—is somewhat hampered.

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Jodie Gosling) got there first in mentioning the disgraceful cuts by Reform-led Warwickshire county council. Does my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) agree that it is also rather disgraceful that no Reform UK Members of Parliament are here for this debate? They often talk about the importance of our high streets, so where are they?

[Jen Craft]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The lack not only of Reform UK Members but—other than the shadow Minister—of Conservative Members is disgraceful and a real shame. Labour Members are trying to make positive change to bring communities together and tackle this issue, which, as we hear time and again, is a root cause of people’s disaffection and disillusionment with the state of their town centres and, indeed, of our country.

When I walk down Grays High Street, Derwent Parade or Civic Square in Tilbury, I find it an incredibly depressing experience—I know that Members will be familiar with that. There are big gaps where shops used to be. Those shops were the pride—the crown jewels—of the town, and they are being replaced with shops that bring no real benefit, including dodgy vape shops and other phoenix shops that change hands every few months. It leads to a sense that high streets are not for decent people or for the community; they are for those who seek to turn a quick buck, who do not play fair or by the rules, and who are often the very sharp end of a criminal network that makes hundreds of millions of pounds and exploits vulnerable people. We all know this.

I am delighted that the Government have announced the high street organised crime unit and that Thurrock will be one of the areas targeted for attention. Bringing together a co-ordinated response using the National Crime Agency, trading standards and the local police force will start to turn the tide on some of the illegal and illicit activity that we are seeing on our high street.

But I would like to pose a question about what comes next. If dodgy shops are closed down and closure periods are extended, we can manage to stamp them out for good, but we need to think about what they will be replaced with; an empty, dead high street is no good for anyone. I have been trying to encourage my local council to use some Pride in Place impact funding, particularly around Grays High Street, to open up shops closed down for illicit activity to the community as welcoming spaces. We could do something that the community can be proud of and create a place where people might actually want to go and spend time in.

We must have a co-ordinated effort across Government and at the local level about what to do. If we end criminality and illegality, what do we want our high streets to look like? They cannot go back to being the high streets of the 1950s—we are not going back there—but what does the high street of the future look like? What is a space that we can all be proud of, that is welcoming and encouraging for our communities and that is not under the purview of criminality? Let us reclaim our high streets and regenerate them once and for all.