Thank you to everyone who wrote to me about retail crime and its impact on shop workers.

I absolutely share your concern about the recent rise in violent, organised shoplifting. Data shows that in the year ending September 2023, there were more than 402,000 offences of shoplifting, a shocking 32% increase on the year before. Those worrying figures are part of a much broader problem of collapsing criminal justice, where just 4% of burglaries result in a suspect being charged and where victims have lost all faith that reporting a crime to the police will result in any action being taken.

But after fourteen years of cuts to community policing, where the total police staff workforce has fallen by 23%, it’s sadly not surprising that officers are being spread more and more thinly in their efforts to keep our streets safe, while the backlogs in our courts grow ever longer and even those convicted of a crime are avoiding jail because our overcrowded prisons are full.

The explosion in retail crime is an issue I’ve been taking really seriously, and late last year I visited the Cally Road branch of the Co-Op as part of USDAW’s Respect for Shopworkers Week, where I heard first-hand the experience of an employee who had been assaulted by a shoplifter, and I also took part in a walk about with local police where we stopped and spoke to local shopkeepers about retail crime. It’s completely unacceptable that shop workers are facing violence simply for doing their job and more must be done to combat this rising problem.

That’s why Labour tabled the amendment you mentioned in your email, which would have created a standalone offence of violence against a shopworker. It’s deeply disappointing that the government chose to vote that measure down, rather than working with us to take the action that is needed to keep workers safe.

Labour remain committed to passing that new law, and – if we have the privilege of being elected this year – we’ve announced a whole range of policies that will return Britain to a country of law and order. That includes recruiting a further 13,000 police and police community support officers (PCSOs) into community teams, increasing patrols, and expanding neighbourhood policing teams. And we’re also committed to ensuring that there is a named neighbourhood officer for every community, so that if you are the victim of crime, you can have confidence that there is a named person responsible for assisting you. That’s the action that is needed to keep our streets and our shopworkers safe.

Please rest assured I will always stand up for ensuring that no one faces threats, intimidation, or violence in their place of work.