A “shoplifters’ charter” has seen thefts rise significantly – to about one offence every minute – but police are charging fewer people, according to Labour.
The party said data showed a record 402,482 shoplifting offences in England and Wales in the year to September 2023.
However, offences resulting in a police charge fell from 20% to 15% between 2018 and 2023, according to a Freedom of Information request.
Labour said offenders were getting off “scot-free” as the fall had not been matched by a rise in other penalties.
More than 54% of shoplifting offences are also dropped with no suspect identified, according to recent Home Office figures.
Labour partly blamed the situation on a 2014 move to introduce a “low value” shoplifting category for items worth under £200 in total.
Theresa May, then home secretary, brought it in to speed things up and allow police to deal with these offences by post.
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But Labour and others, such as the British Retail Consortium, said it meant officers have deprioritised shoplifting.
The rise in shoplifting and attacks on staff have caused some retailers to lock away – or put security tags on – everyday products such as meat, butter, chocolate and coffee.
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Co-op’s food business lost £33m in just six months last year as shoplifting cases surged.
A recent British Retail Consortium survey said the number of annual customer thefts across the UK had doubled to 16 million – far higher than the Home Office data.
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Shadow home secretary Yvette Copper said Labour would change the law as criminals are “getting away with it and more local businesses are paying the price”.
“The Conservative government has decimated neighbourhood policing, leaving our town centres unprotected, and they are still refusing to get rid of the £200 rule, which is encouraging repeat offending and organised gangs of shoplifters,” said Ms Cooper.
“Labour will scrap the Tories’ shoplifters’ charter and bring in a community policing guarantee, with 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs to crack down on shoplifting and keep the public safe.”
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Home Office minister Chris Philp said the “reality” was people in Labour-run areas were 20% more likely to be a victim of shoplifting, and 40% more likely to be a victim of crime, than those in Conservative areas.
“This month, Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives announced that serial or abusive shoplifters will face tougher punishments and we are making assault of a retail worker a standalone criminal offence,” Mr Philp added.
