Ministers are this morning highlighting efforts to crack down on a shoplifting “free-for-all”. They’re introducing a new specific offence of assaulting a retail worker – something Labour pledged to do in their 2024 election manifesto – as well as closing the £200 shoplifting “loophole”. Current policing rules define shoplifting below £200 as “low value”, which forces often don’t investigate. The British Retail Consortium says this has led to a perception among crime groups that police do not consider it as a “real” crime. The measures are part of the government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which should become law in the coming days before parliament closes ahead of the King’s Speech.
Sky News
