pm visits horsham

Prime Minister promises to clamp down on retail crime during Sussex visit

• shoplifting
• Rishi Sunak
• Wednesday 10 April 2024 at 8:51pm

ITV News Meridian's Andy Dickenson reports.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said fresh measures to stop retail crime will show shop workers that “we’ve got their back” as he announced assaulting shop staff will be made a separate criminal offence.

Mr Sunak visited a Boots store in Horsham, West Sussex, for the announcement where staff showed him safety measures in place for workers, such as a panic button and bodyworn cameras.

Speaking to reporters at Horsham police station, he said, “I have been concerned by the rise in retail crime as I’m sure many others are either seeing it or on social media, which is why today we’ve announced a strong set of measures to clamp down on retail crime."

“(It’s) been warmly welcomed by retailers and police that I’ve spoken to today and crucially will demonstrate to our shop workers that we’ve got their back and also that we will do what it takes to keep our streets and our community safe.”

Assaulting a shop worker is to be made a separate criminal offence after the Government U-turned in the face of a long-running campaign.

Ministers had previously ruled out legislating to create a new offence, saying in response to a parliamentary petition in October they did not think it was “required or will be most effective”.

But on Wednesday, Mr Sunak announced that his Government will be amending its Criminal Justice Bill to bring in the new offence, which will apply to England and Wales.

He previously said, “I am sending a message to those criminals – whether they are serious organised criminal gangs, repeat offenders or opportunistic thieves – who think they can get away with stealing from these local businesses or abusing shop workers, enough is enough."

“Our local shops are the lifeblood of our communities, and they must be free to trade without the threat of crime or abuse.”

The new offence will carry a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine, the same sentence for the existing offence of common assault.

Repeat offenders could also be forced to wear an electronic tag, as could consistent shoplifters, under amendments to the Bill currently making its way through Parliament.

The Government also plans to pilot community sentencing measures with an as yet unnamed police force to tackle high levels of shoplifting, along with greater use of facial recognition technology to identify people wanted by the police in crowded areas.

Judges already have the power to ban repeat offenders from certain shops under criminal behaviour orders, with breaches bringing a maximum sentence of five years.

The move to create a separate offence follows a long-running campaign from major retailers and Conservative backbencher Matt Vickers amid rising violence against retail workers.

Over the past six months, more than 47,000 people have signed a petition calling for the creation of a separate offence of assaulting a retail worker.

But an initial response published last October said, “The Government is committed to supporting hardworking retail workers, who can suffer intolerable violence and abuse, but we do not think more legislative change is required or will be most effective.”

The response added that the Government had already legislated in 2022 to make assaulting a “public-facing worker”, including retail staff, an aggravated offence for sentencing “to emphasise that these types of assaults are totally unacceptable”.

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Earlier this year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) published a report saying violent and abusive incidents against shopworkers had increased 50% between 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Helen Dickinson, chairwoman of the BRC, welcomed the announcement, saying that “the voices of the three million people working in retail are finally being heard”.

She said, “The impact of retail violence has steadily worsened, with people facing racial abuse, sexual harassment, threatening behaviour, physical assault and threats with weapons, often linked to organised crime."

“Victims are ordinary hardworking people – teenagers taking on their first job, carers looking for part-time work, parents working around childcare.”

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Paddy Lillis, general secretary of retail union Usdaw, said the Government’s U-turn was “long overdue”.

He said, “The dither and delay of this Government on this issue, over many years, has led to thousands of shop workers needlessly suffering physical and mental injury."

“I hope that whatever the Government is proposing will be substantial and effective in giving shop workers, key workers in every community, the respect that they have long deserved and regrettably too often do not receive.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government’s proposals are “a pale imitation” of her own party’s plans.

She said, “Under the Tories, too many communities and high streets are being blighted by staggering increases in shoplifting, up 30% in the last year alone."

“Labour has been calling for tougher action against those who assault shop workers for more than 10 years. The Tories opposed and voted against our plans for better protection. Why has it taken them so long to act?”

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You are here: Home Newsroom News The Prime Minister visits Boots store as government announces new measures to tackle retail crime

The Prime Minister visits Boots store as government announces new measures to tackle retail crime

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today visited a Boots in Horsham, West Sussex, to speak to team members about the initiatives introduced in the store to help disrupt and deter retail crime.

The visit took place as the government announced new measures to tackle retail crime, which includes making the assault of a retail worker a standalone criminal offence and tougher punishments for serial or abusive shoplifters.

In Horsham, the Prime Minister was joined by Jo Shiner, Sussex Police Chief Constable. They were welcomed by Seb James, Senior Vice President, President and Managing Director of Boots UK & ROI, and Anthony Hemmerdinger, Retail and Supply Chain Director at Boots UK.

The Prime Minister spoke to team members about their experience of retail crime and the initiatives that Boots had introduced to disrupt and deter criminal activity in stores and protect team members.

Led by Store Manager Anne Green and Area Manager Purvi Shukla, the Prime Minister was shown how team members in the store use their body cams to de-escalate incidents of violence and aggression and how they connect to the Boots CCTV Monitoring Centre in Nottingham to access remote support.

Seb James, Managing Director, Boots UK & Ireland, said: “We welcome the measures announced by the government today.

“Intimidation and abuse of retail workers is unacceptable, so legislation to strengthen shopworker protection sends a powerful signal and deterrent and we look forward to working with the Home Office, Police, and local community partners to put these plans into action.

“At Boots, we also continue to invest in our own capability to disrupt and deter criminal activity and protect our team members, including in our CCTV monitoring centre and body worn video cameras.”

Boots state-of-the-art CCTV monitoring centre in Nottingham is plugged in centrally to over 1,000 stores with a team of security experts on hand reviewing footage live throughout the day. Boots security experts can make announcements over store tanoys from the centre, which can effectively de-escalate incidents. It deploys body worn video cameras for team members in over 350 stores and continues to roll them out further.

Boots also actively engages with the government, policing teams and other retailers to develop and implement collaborative strategies tackle retail crime.

What’s new at Boots? Find out the latest updates from the UK’s largest pharmacy-led health and beauty chain – from new products and services to important business developments.

Take a closer look at our team members and the work they do, learn more about our corporate social responsibility initiatives and see how we work behind the scenes.

Boots is the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer with over 52,000 team members and around 1,900 stores, ranging from local community pharmacies to large destination health and beauty stores.*

Boots serves its customers and patients for life as the leading provider of healthcare on the high street and the UK’s number one beauty destination. It offers an unrivalled depth and breadth of products, which incorporates its extensive own brand range and innovative portfolio of brands, including No7, the UK’s No1 skincare brand, Soap & Glory, Liz Earle Beauty and Sleek MakeUP.

2024 marks Boots’ 175 th  anniversary year. Founder John Boot opened a herbalist store in Nottingham in 1849 to offer an affordable alternative to traditional medicines. His son Jesse expanded the business to become a modern retailer and the biggest chemist in Britain.  Throughout its history, Boots has listened, learned and innovated, and it continues to challenge itself to improve its products and services every day.

Boots is part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is a global leader in pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing retail.  More company information is available on   boots-uk.com .

*Figures accurate as of 31 May 2024

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Program: When the Prime Minister visits Horsham

Program: Wimmera Breakfast

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If you were in Horsham on June 29, 2023 you probably heard, or you probably saw... that the Prime Minister was in town.

Anthony Albanese went on a whirlwind trip to the Wimmera, to open the new Regional Water Play Park.

He posed for photos, but rushed to his car... To avoid angry farmers protesting the planned Victoria-New South Wales Interconnector project.

Alexander Darling was there.

• Alexander Darling, Reporter

Image Details

Anthony Albanese's visit to Horsham was disrupted by farmers from an hour away, who convoyed to the city to protest planned powerlines through their properties. ( Alexander Darling: ABC Wimmera )

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Pm visits horsham, farmers gatecrash visit to protest powerlines, victorian country hour.

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Horsham for visit on Retail Crime

10/04/2024. horsham, united kingdom. prime minister rishi sunak visits a boots retail store and meets police officers in horsham as he discusses actions to tackle retail crime picture by simon dawson / no 10 downing street.

The Prime Minister Visits Horsham

Watch Jeremy's video above to hear about the Prime Minister's visit to Horsham.

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