Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to help ensure that shoplifters who steal goods worth under £200 are charged.

Police Recorded Crime figures showed 443,995 shoplifting offences for the year ending March 2024, an increase by 30% in the 12 months leading up to. Shoplifting continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. The Government will not stand for this.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government will end the effective immunity that has been granted to low level shoplifting of goods under £200. We will also introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.