Legislation addressing assaults on shop workers and closing loopholes in shoplifting laws is forthcoming
![Legislation addressing assaults on shop workers and closing loopholes in shoplifting laws is forthcoming](/upload/news/2024/07/14/176453.jpg)
In the first King’s Speech since the General Election, Labour will announce a specific offence of assaulting retail workers and close a Tory loophole downgrading shoplifting
Labour will this week put forward legislation to protect shop workers and clamp down on shoplifting in a tough new crime bill.
In the first King’s Speech since winning the General Election, the new Government will include new measures to finally deal with the crisis facing businesses and staff. The speech - delivered by King Charles at the State Opening of Parliament outlining the Government’s priorities - will include a new criminal offence of assaulting shop workers.
It will also close a Tory loophole that means thefts of goods worth under £200 are less likely to result in prosecution. This is a victory for The Mirror, which has campaigned for laws downgrading the theft of goods below this sum to be undone.
Labour’s crime bill will also include a clampdown on the sale of knives and a string of measures to tackle violence against women, which it has pledged to halve within a decade. It comes after Rishi Sunak failed to deliver new legislation to tackle a wave of violence against retail workers, despite promising to do so earlier this year.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said over 1,300 retail staff suffer violence and abuse every day. And Paul Gerrard, public affairs director at the Co-Op, told The Mirror: "We’ve had to move a colleague from their home because of threats they were facing at home. We’ve spoken to (Home Secretary) Yvette Cooper and she was very affected by what she’s heard.
"It’s absolutely vital, I know how important this is to the Labour Home Office team." He said attacks on retail workers had soared, fuelled by organised gangs. Ms Dickinson told The Mirror: “We are pleased that Labour has proven tough on crime, and they were first to back a pledge to create a new specific offence for assaulting a retail worker. We hope this new offence is included in the King’s Speech.”
Paddy Lillis. general secretary of trade union Usdaw - which represents retail staff, said: "After 14 years of Tory austerity, chaos and incompetence there is a lot to do." He said the "perverse" £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters "effectively became an open invitation to retail criminals".
Labour lobbied for a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker to be added to the previous Government’s Criminal Justice Bill. In April the Tories finally relented, announcing offenders would face up to six months in prison or an unlimited fine. But this collapsed when Mr Sunak called a General Election the following month. Retailers say the 2014 decision to make a theft of under £200 a summary offence with a maximum penalty of £70 has sparked a rise in shoplifting cases.
On Wednesday Labour will reverse this, as The Mirror has called for. Last year 430,104 shoplifting cases were reported to police in England and Wales, up 37% in 12 months.
The Mirror understands the Government’s crime bill will be more streamlined than the previous Tory legislation, which faced long delays. Mr Starmer hopes to get it on the statute books as quickly as possible and wants to get it through Parliament before the euphoria of this month’s election win dies down.
Labour is expected to pledge more than 35 bills on Wednesday. These will include a new law to tackle absenteeism in schools, and create a requirement for primary schools to set up free breakfast clubs. There will also be a limit on the number of branded items of clothing schools can insist parents buy.
A new law to protect workers from unscrupulous bosses is set to be included in the agenda-setting address. The Employment Rights Bill, which Labour plans to pass within 100 days of taking office, will ban zero-hour contracts and outlaw ‘fire and rehire’ tactics.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177106_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177104_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177103_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177102_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177101_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177100_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177097_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177096_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177095_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177094_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177093_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/19/177092_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/18/177090_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/18/177086_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/17/177080_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/17/177079_m.jpg)
![](/upload/news/2024/08/17/177077_m.jpg)