The second reading of the Crime and Policing Bill held in parliament on Monday (10) during which Yvette Cooper reiterated the new measures to tackle the rising crime, abuse and shop thefts, declaring that the new measures will reverse the damage done by the Conservative government.
Among the key announcements made by Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for the Home Department, during the parliamentary debate were a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker, introducing Respect Orders, scraping the £200 threshold for shop theft offences, and placing £200 million for the next financial year for recruiting 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers.
Additionally, the Secretary of State highlighted the unique challenges faced in crimes against rural communities which she stated are often driven by organised gangs.
The Bill introduces measures to prevent prolific offenders from entering places such as town centres, as well as introducing new interventions to help addicts into treatment and end the cycle of reoffending.
Cooper said during the debate, “The Bill introduces stronger action on retail crime. I thank the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, the Co-op, the British Retail Consortium, the Association of Convenience Stores and more for their determined campaigning over many years to protect shop workers.
“They are the staff who kept their shops open and kept our local communities going through the pandemic, but in recent years they have had to face a truly disgraceful escalation in threats, abuse and violence. Our party has campaigned on this measure for very many years.
“Through the Bill, we will introduce a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker, sending the message loud and clear that these disgraceful crimes must not be tolerated, because everyone has a right to feel safe at work.
“We will reverse the damage done by the Conservative government through years of cuts to community police. There are half as many PCSOs as there were 14 years ago, and many thousands fewer neighbourhood police officers.
"Some 10 years ago, the Conservative Government introduced a new £200 rule, categorising shop theft below that amount as low value. That sent the signal, which has shaped the police response ever since, that such crime should not be taken seriously.
"It became a Tory shoplifters’ charter—a signal to thieves and gangs across the country that they could operate with impunity, wandering from shop to shop and stealing away because nothing would be done.
"That kind of crime spreads. It creates a sense of lawlessness, and huge anger and frustration among the law-abiding majority, who see criminals getting away with it and respect for the law hollowed out. This Government will finally end the damaging £200 rule."
The ACS 2025 Crime Report was also launched yesterday, revealing the extent of crime committed against the convenience sector and its retailers, estimating a record-breaking 6.2million incidents of shop theft.
Key figures from this year’s report include:
- Crime cost retailers an estimated £316m over the last year
- Retailers have spent over £265m on crime prevention and detection measures in their store over the last year
- Taken together, the cost of crime and investment in crime prevention amount to a 10p crime tax on every transaction in a convenience store
- There were over 59,000 estimated incidents of violence in the convenience sector over the last year, and 1.2million incidents of verbal abuse
- 59 per cent of retailers believe that incidents involving organised crime have increased over the last year
Panel discussion at the relaunch of the SAITG on 3 March 2025
