Shoplifting up 27% in the East of England over the last year alone as labour pledges to revitalise UK high streets
New analysis comes as Labour launches plan for Britain’s small business entrepreneurs, with new fully funded and fully-costed policies, pulling up the shutters after 14 years of decline under the Conservatives.
Labour’s plan for small business will put revitalising high streets at the centre, tackling anti-social behaviour through the introduction of guaranteed town centre patrols.
The announcement comes amid new analysis by the Labour Party revealing that there has been a 27% rise in shoplifting in the East of England, and a 15% rise in Suffolk, in the last year alone.
Labour says shoplifters are getting away with it, thanks to the Tories’ failure to scrap the ‘shoplifters’ charter’, the rule which means police don’t investigate shoplifting worth less than £200.
The hollowing out of neighbourhood policing across the country has also left town centres vulnerable to crime. Nationally, neighbourhood officers and PCSOs are down 10,000 since 2015. Labour will put 13,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat, paid for by ending wasteful contracts in the police with a National Police Savings Body.
The raft of policies announced today by Labour include eradicating the late payment of invoices to small businesses, to ensure timely compensation for their services and enhancing market opportunities by facilitating greater access for small businesses to compete for public contracts.
Labour has also guaranteed access to essential banking services for small businesses in their local high streets, fostering a more supportive financial environment.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
“Our town centres across the country are being plagued by crime. From shoplifting to persistent antisocial behaviour, too often high streets just don’t feel safe anymore.
“Labour will crack down on town centre crime, getting tough on shoplifting by scrapping the Shoplifters’ Charter and allowing police to properly investigate, and putting bobbies back on the beat in Nottinghamshire and beyond.”
Jess Asato, Labour’s candidate for Lowestoft, said:
“On Saturday I met with a business owner in Beccles who said that shop-lifting is rife and there's little police response to it. With our first steps for government, the Labour Party will focus on what matters to small businesses to deliver change. Stamping out late payments, ridding our high streets of anti-social behaviour, and creating economic stability.
“There’s a clear choice at this election for small business owners in Lowestoft and Beccles: more chaos with the Tories, or stability with Labour. More decline and division, or hope and unity with a changed Labour Party.”
Notes
Statistics
Recorded shoplifting has surged by 37% to a record high of 430,104 offences:
Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
Police recorded shoplifting has increased in every single police force area in the last year. Police recorded shoplifting by Police Force Area in the years to Dec 2022 and Dec 2023: Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk), data tables for Dec 22 and Dec 23, table P1.
For any further details please email - Labour Eastern Press - easternpress@labour.org.uk