Yvette Cooper pledges crackdown on shoplifting ‘epidemic’ with new crime bill

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged to tackle the rising ‘epidemic’ of shoplifting in the UK by giving police stronger powers through her proposed
Crime and Policing Bill.

The Labour MP’s announcement follows a media report revealing that shoplifters are increasingly going unpunished, despite the number of recorded offences soaring
to record levels.

An analysis of official figures by The Times showed that police recorded 443,995 shoplifting offences in the year leading up to March 2024, a significant increase
from 326,440 in the same period a decade ago.

However, the number of shoplifters being punished has plummeted, with only 431 fixed penalty notices issued in the past year, a 98 per cent decrease from 2014.

Fixed penalty notice is the lowest form of punishment used for theft of goods valued at under £100.

Moreover, most police forces did not issue a single penalty for shoplifting last year.