Freight Crime
Debate between Rachel Taylor and Jim Shannon(3 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the matter of freight crime.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for road freight and logistics I had heard the concerns of haulage companies in the run up to the Budget. I was delighted to hear that the Government were also listening to the freight and logistics sector and decided not to raise fuel duty for another year. That was a necessary recognition of the importance of the freight industry to our economy, and I thank the Government for building the foundations of a good relationship with the freight and logistics sector, which I hope will continue over this Parliament.
When speaking to the Road Haulage Association, their members and other logistics workers, they were primarily concerned about fuel duty and freight crime. Now that we have encouraged growth through the freeze on fuel duty, it is time to take freight crime seriously. For too long, freight crime has been seen as an opportunistic crime, carried out by individuals who fancy their luck stealing some stuff from the back of a lorry. That could not be further from the truth. The Home Office must understand that freight crime has become a serious and organised crime, often involving violence and threats.
Tackling freight crime is essential to achieving the Government’s five missions. Road freight moves 89% of all goods, and 98% of all agricultural and food products. In total, the road haulage industry contributes £13.5 billion to the economy, which is 5.6% of the UK’s total GDP. Crucially, freight is an economic multiplier. Every £1 generated by the logistics industry generates £3 elsewhere in the economy.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I commend the hon. Lady for bringing forward this important issue. In Northern Ireland, the National Criminal Intelligence Service reported some 5,373 cases of freight and cargo crime, which is a 7% increase on the year before. Some of that has involved drug smuggling in freight, which is a big issue. Does the hon. Lady agree that more efforts must be made regionally to address the potential of freight crime and drug smuggling, to ensure the safety of local people on the streets?
Rachel Taylor
I agree with the hon. Gentleman that regionally and nationally we need more emphasis on this crime. If the Government are to achieve their mission to kickstart economic growth and take back our streets, they must treat freight crime with the seriousness that it deserves.