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Responding to Yvette Cooper’s speech at Labour Conference, Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said:

“With over 850 incidents of violence or abuse every single day, we need action to protect our retail colleagues. We welcome the Labour Party and the Shadow Home Secretary’s commitment to introduce a new law to protect retail workers from violence and abuse. We need a standalone offence to improve the visibility of the issue, so that police can allocate appropriate resources to the challenge, and to act as a deterrent to would-be offenders. This would also send a clear message that this behaviour will not be tolerated. Everyone has the right to feel safe at work.

“At a cost of almost £1 billion a year, we must also address the scourge of retail theft. Yvette Cooper has clearly heard the concerns of the industry, and we welcome her pledge to tackle all shoplifting.”
Notes:
  • At Labour conference, Yvette Cooper said:
    “We will stand with USDAW, with the Coop, with Tesco, with our convenience stores, with retailers and shopworkers across the country, with a new law and tougher sentences for attacks on our shopworkers because everyone has the right to feel safe at work.”
  • Labour put out a press release today stating their intention to:
    “[…] a new specific offence of assault against retail workers.”
  • Over 90 retailers recently wrote to the Home Secretary to raise concerns about rising crime rates and call for a standalone offence to be implemented.