ACS

Miss Anne McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Thirsk and Malton, has today slammed the Government for failing to support her Bill which would toughen up the punishment for shop theft.

Miss Anne McIntosh said: “Retailers in North Yorkshire and across the country will be hugely disappointed at the Government’s cavalier disregard for their losses due to the huge cost of shop theft. My Bill today would have:

• Ensured that fixed penalty notices could only be used when dealing with first time offenders, who have no previous criminal convictions and guaranteed that the fixed notice would be issued at a police station.
• Guaranteed that any offences dealt with by a fixed penalty notice would be recorded on the Police National Computer, or its successor system, within 24 hours.
• Provided assurances that the consent of retailers would be obtained before a fixed penalty notice was issued.
• Seen the revision of the sentencing guidelines to deal appropriately with those shoplifters who reach the court system.”

“In supporting the Bill, the Government would have recognised the severity of shop theft, particularly caused by persistent and repeat offenders. By allowing two senior ministers, Health Minister Ann Keen, and Defence Minister Kevin Jones to talk out the two earlier bills on autism and pensions for war widows, the Government has badly let down retailers, storekeepers, large and small, and the many other victims of retail crime. I know they will share my disappointment at the Government’s failure to support this Bill.”

“The Bill has an opportunity for Second Reading on Friday 3rd July but I fear that the Government will employ similar tactics on that occasion. Today has been a sad day for Parliament and a disappointing one for British retailers.”
Notes to editors

• The cost to businesses from shoplifting amounted to £1 billion last year.
• In 2006/7, there were a staggering 294,304 incidences of shoplifting recorded, with 57% of businesses victims of crime.
• A Whitehall consultation paper in 2006 revealed that penalty notices cost £91 to enforce – more than the value of the penalty.