EXCLUSIVE Finally, police forced to arrest petty shoplifters
Starmer to unveil crackdown on thefts under £200
POLICE will be forced to investigate more shoplifting cases under a crime crackdown to be announced in tomorrow’s King’s Speech.
Officers will no longer be allowed to ignore thefts of goods worth less than £200, ending what has been dubbed a ‘Shoplifters’ Charter’.
The scrapping of the decadelong rule will be included in a Crime Bill to be unveiled by King Charles in Parliament tomorrow as the new Labour Government sets out its first legislative programme.
Sir Keir Starmer had warned shoplifters during the election campaign that he was putting them ‘on notice’, saying: ‘You might get away with it under this weak Tory Government. But if Labour takes power, we won’t stand by while crime takes over our streets.
‘We’ll scrap the Shoplifter’s Charter – the £200 rule that stops the police investigating theft in your workplace.’
The Crime Bill will also create a new criminal offence of assaulting and abusing shop workers after attacks soared alongside thefts.
It comes after The Mail on Sunday led the way on the issue with its landmark End the Shoplifting Epidemic campaign.
Sir Keir said making assaults on shop workers a standalone criminal offence was vital ‘because you deserve to feel safe at work’.
Police have been accused of letting store thieves get away with it since 2014 when then home secretary Theresa May introduced a new category of ‘low-value shoplifting’.
Since then the stealing of goods worth less than £200 has been treated as a summary offence, to be dealt with by a penalty notice of £70 issued by post rather than a magistrates court case.
It was meant to allow police and judges to focus on other cases and was not meant to apply to repeat offenders or organised crime gangs.
But retailers say it led police to deprioritise shoplifting and triggered a surge in thefts as criminals knew they would not be arrested if they stole goods worth less than the threshold.
Recent figures show that shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales rose to a 20-year high in 2023. But of the 408,690 recorded, only 16 per cent led to charges while 58 per cent were closed without a suspect being identified.
The Crime Bill will also close loopholes that allow the sale of weapons such as ninja and samurai swords.
There will also be an attempt to crack down on anti-social behaviour through the creation of a new ‘respect order’.
‘You deserve to feel safe at work’