Town and City Centre Safety

Michelle Welsh Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Westminster Hall

[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.

Digital Exploitation of Women and Girls

Michelle Welsh Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Sir Mark Hendrick) for securing this important debate.

With increased access to the internet, the exploitation of vulnerable children, predominantly young girls, has become easier for predators. Over the past few years, we have seen the rise of deepfakes on social media: the National Police Chiefs’ Council estimates that they have increased in prevalence by 1,780% between 2019 and 2024. Let me be clear: the toxic culture of misogynistic behaviour online is not banter. It is not free speech. It is abuse.

We know that the victims of online misogyny, abuse and exploitation are predominantly women and girls, so I welcome the Government’s bold action in making it a criminal offence to create or request the creation of non-consensual intimate images. How we respond to online abuse defines what kind of society we are and what kind of society we are prepared to be. We should be a society that stands up for dignity and equality for all women and girls.

The speed at which these images can be produced and shared is truly alarming. I worry that without social media platforms taking more responsibility to remove this content from their sites, we will never truly be rid of it. There needs to be more emphasis on stopping the predators who create the images and on ensuring that such images can be removed swiftly from sites to protect women and girls. That needs to be backed by legislation.

The answer should never be for girls and women to log off or stay quiet. Exploitation of women and girls online is not inevitable; it is a failure of choice and a failure of systems. If we have the power to design these systems, we have the responsibility to make them safe.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michelle Welsh Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Jones]

Yes. I was really pleased that charges for shop theft increased by 25% in the year to June 2025, because the police are taking these issues seriously: they are really getting in there, working with our retailers, getting the prolific offenders and tackling the issue. I am always very pleased to meet.

[Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)]

T6. Happy new year, Mr Speaker. Many fantastic businesses in my constituency are facing daily struggles with crime. Many shop workers and police have to face issues with aggressive behaviour and shoplifting. Many of the people doing it are repeat offenders who have already been arrested and released for similar crimes. The police are doing all they can, but the system is allowing offenders to return to exactly the same place, ensuring that the cycle of violence and harassment can continue. When the system is flawed, the community is let down and the police are already overstretched, does the Minister agree that offenders should not be allowed to return to the area and the businesses in which they have committed their offences? Will she meet me, local businesses, local shop workers and local police to find a solution?

[Sarah Jones]

My hon. Friend is right: 20% of offenders are responsible for 80% of crime. We need to ensure that repeat offenders are targeted, and that is what the police are doing. There is a raft of tools that we can use, but partnerships between the police and the retail sector are key. The number of shop theft charges has increased, but we need to look at other measures, such as treatment when people have drug addiction and other such issues. I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend.

Violence against Women and Girls

Michelle Welsh Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) for securing this really important debate. Tackling violence against women and girls is one of the most important issues of this generation. Globally, one in three women will face domestic abuse. In the UK, 97% of young women have been sexually harassed, and more than 1 million VAWG-related crimes were recorded by the police in 2022-23. That equates to about 3,000 offences each day.

Everyone will know someone who has been affected, and people may even have their own stories to tell. We must tackle the root cause of violence against women and girls if we are ever to reduce or eradicate it. That starts with social norms and attitudes towards women. It means tackling catcalling, hatred of women, sexist remarks, the normalisation in the media of violence against women, harassing and stalking—I could go on.

Tackling violence against women and girls can sometimes feel like an endless task, but I want to raise some of the amazing work happening across the country, including in Nottinghamshire. Communities Inc and Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid have developed the Stand by Her programme, focusing on exploring attitudes and behaviours that contribute to harassment, abuse and violence against women and girls. Stand by Her aims to change social norms and prevent men’s violence against women in Nottinghamshire. Training has been carried out across schools, workplaces and other organisations, and by the end of the year 4,000 officers and staff members in Nottinghamshire police will have been trained.

We all must play our part in prevention. That means stopping violence against women and girls before it occurs, by tackling the root cause of the problem. Women and girls should not live in fear. Violence against women and girls is never acceptable, never excusable and never tolerable.