PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Prosecution Rates: Bournemouth East - 18 December 2025 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

The most granular data that I can provide is for the Dorset police area, where the crime with the highest prosecution volume is shoplifting, followed by driving under the influence and then assault by beating. To keep communities safe over the Christmas period, the Government have launched the winter of action. Police will use hotspot patrols, and will work closely with businesses and communities to clamp down on shop theft and street crime across hundreds of town centres, including Bournemouth.

Mr Speaker, may I wish you and your team a happy Christmas? What the Solicitor General found on looked into this does not surprise me. Chris has said that he cannot stomach shoplifting, particularly at the Asda petrol station in Charminster, and Jackie is putting up with antisocial behaviour and shoplifting at the Co-op on Christchurch Road. Does the Solicitor General agree that businesses need easier ways to report crime, and that no shop worker or constituent should have to put up with fear of harm or abuse on their high street?

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I know that he has convened a meeting in his constituency on retail crime with high street businesses, and he has been vocal, both in the Chamber and with me, about the scourge of shoplifting. The Government are introducing new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to tackle retail crime. That includes removing the £200 low-value limit for shoplifting, as well as introducing a new offence of assaulting a shop worker.

Royal Assent

I have to notify the House, in accordance with the Royal Assent Act 1967, that the King has signified his Royal Assent to the following Acts and Measures:

Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Act 2025

Mental Health Act 2025

Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025

Space Industry (Indemnities) Act 2025

Employment Rights Act 2025

Armed Forces Chaplains (Licensing) Measure 2025

Abuse Redress Measure 2025.