Labour’s Preet Kaur Gill MP has welcomed tough new action on antisocial behaviour and town centre crime for the people of Birmingham.
The Labour Government has introduced a raft of measures including brand new Respect Orders and action against shoplifting, as part of its flagship Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders – promised in Labour’s 2024 manifesto and delivered today – will enable swift enforcement against persistent antisocial behaviour offenders.
The Orders come as shock data shows that West Midlands Police Force failed to hand out a SINGLE Penalty Notice for Disorder for ASB in 2023.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s Bill also includes action on shoplifting, including introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker.
Labour will also scrap the Tory ‘shoplifter’s charter’, a law which deprioritised the theft of goods under £200. Stats show there were 28,542 incidences of shoplifting in the West Midlands Police Force Area, around 549 per week.
In 2023, Conservative Policing Minister Chris Philp was roundly mocked when he urged members of the public to make citizen’s arrests on those they witnessed shoplifting.
Labour’s bill will also give the police new powers to enter premises without a warrant, enabling the police to search and seize stolen property swiftly which they believe is at an address.
Labour’s action comes as the number of snatch thefts last year reached 85,000 across England and Wales.
The new measures will be supported by the government’s plan to recruit 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles over the course of this Parliament.
West Midlands Police has been granted a 6.8% increase in funding to deliver the reforms.
Preet Kaur Gill, Labour MP for Birmingham, Edgbaston said:
“After fourteen years of Conservative rule, our town centres and neighbourhoods are plagued by anti-social behaviour. The people of Birmingham will wholeheartedly welcome the tough new action included in Labour's bill. Whether it’s street drinking, harassment or vandalism on the high street or noisy and intimidating off-road bikes terrorising our estates, my constituents are fed up.
“As Chair of the Co-operative Party Parliamentary Group, it’s great to see Labour taking swift action to crack down on shoplifters and protect shop workers, after a successful campaign by the Co-operative Party and Usdaw which put the issue of shoplifting on the Government’s agenda.
“The flagship Crime and Policing Bill is a vital step towards the safer streets promised in this Government’s Plan for Change”.
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Notes
• Chris Philp comments: https://www.thetimes.com/article/if-you-see-a-shoplifterarrest-them-yourself-police-minister-says-0pvnkxq5h
• Data for PNDs: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justicesystem-statistics-quarterly-december-2023 Out of court disposals data tool.
• Data for shoplifting: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bullet ins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingseptember2024/relateddata , Police Force Area data tables, table P1.
• Data for snatch thefts: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bullet ins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingseptember2024/relateddata, Appendix Tables, Worksheet A1.
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