The Prime Minister stated “individuals can have their lives and livelihoods ruined by persistent store theft”.
Keir Starmer made the declare throughout a speech to union bosses (Picture: Getty)
Keir Starmer was accused of “brazen cheek” after claiming the ‘tide could possibly be turning’ in Britain’s shoplifting epidemic.
The Prime Minister stated “individuals can have their lives and livelihoods ruined by persistent store theft”.
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However Shadow Residence Secretary Chris Philp warned Labour’s radical sentencing proposals will result in extra shoplifters going free.
And the disaster was compounded by new analysis which revealed the epidemic is getting worse on account of hovering numbers of reoffenders.
A staggering 67 per cent of shoplifting offenders go on to commit one other offence inside 12 months, the Centre for Social Justice stated. This compares to 55 per cent earlier than the pandemic.
Shadow Residence Secretary Chris Philp declared: “Keir Starmer has a brazen cheek – he’s a part of the issue, not the answer.
“Shoplifting is up 8% underneath Labour, made worse by a drop in whole police numbers of 1,300 within the final yr alone.
“Starmer is abolishing jail sentences underneath yr which implies nearly no shoplifter will ever go to jail.
“The Conservative plan to Take Again our Streets will see 10,000 further police hotspot patrol excessive crime areas, mixed with a tripling of cease and search and widespread use of reside facial recognition to catch wished criminals.
“Solely the Conservatives have a plan to repair this.”
Labour’s sentencing plans have sparked fury, with round 40,000 criminals set to keep away from jail altogether, whereas many convicts will probably be let loose after spending only a third of their time period in jail.
And people sentenced to 4 years or extra will probably be let loose after solely serving 50% of their sentence behind bars.
The overwhelming majority of offenders who would have beforehand been jailed for as much as 12 months will probably be given group orders or suspended sentences, underneath the Authorities’s plan.
The typical variety of offences dedicated by profession criminals has practically doubled in 5 years, the CSJ stated.
In whole, convicted shoplifters had been answerable for over 131,000 additional offences in the latest information (2023-24) – up 66 per cent on the earlier yr.
The Prime Minister claimed store thefts had been “barely down” as he demanded wider use of know-how which permits CCTV footage to be shared instantly with the police.
In an deal with to the Usdaw shopworkers’ union, Sir Keir stated: “It’s disgraceful that individuals simply working of their store should take abuse from clients.
“It’s disgraceful that individuals really feel sick to the abdomen serious about how they’re going to get by the day and it’s disgraceful that individuals can have their lives and livelihoods ruined by persistent store theft.”
He stated the Authorities has put an additional 3,000 neighbourhood law enforcement officials on the streets and scrapped the “ridiculous” rule which left theft of products price lower than £200 “not correctly investigated” by police.
“That was a shoplifters’ constitution, and we’ve ended it and never earlier than time,” he stated.
“We’ve toughened up punishment too. We’re giving police stronger powers, making the abuse and assault of retail staff a particular crime and giving you an identical protections as emergency staff.”
Sir Keir stated he was “not blind to how large this problem is” however stated the variety of individuals charged had gone up 17% within the newest statistics and store theft was down.
The newest Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) information confirmed shoplifting offences fell barely final yr, down from 516,611 in 2024 to 509,566 in 2025.
Sir Keir stated: “It’s solely barely down, however the tide could possibly be turning.”
Joanne Thomas, Usdaw basic secretary, stated the incoming laws delivers “much-needed safety of retail staff’ regulation”.
She stated: “Whereas there was a welcome small lower in shoplifting throughout final yr, the actual fact is retail crime continues to be a big difficulty for the sector and notably workers.
“Usdaw’s final survey discovered that that is by no means a victimless crime, with two-thirds of assaults on retail workers being triggered by theft or armed theft.
“Having to cope with repeated and protracted offences could cause points past the theft itself, like anxiousness, worry and bodily hurt to retail staff.”
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