Action to restore neighbourhood policing is making a difference – including delivering more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles since March 2025.There are signs the tide is turning, with a small fall in shop theft offences by 1% in the year ending December 2025 compared with the previous year. This is compared with increases of nearly 30% in the period before the election.

We are removing the £200 threshold for shop theft and commencing the new offence of assaulting a retail worker as soon as possible.

We are also equipping the police to fight the organised crime gangs that drive shop theft across the country. Our £5m investment in the specialist OPAL policing unit is boosting intelligence-led policing to identify offenders, disrupt the tactics used to target shops, and bring more criminals to justice.

We are also actively engaged with retailers and law enforcement agencies to strengthen digital evidence-sharing and the responsible use of facial recognition technology, making it easier to identify repeat offenders and build stronger cases against them.