Labour’s amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill proposed that the assault of a retail worker be made a specific criminal offence, carrying a sentence of 12 months behind bars or a fine of up to £10,000.
The amendment was proposed by shadow policing minister Alex Norris, who took to X to express his “disappointment” with the government voting against the tougher restrictions at a time when “violence is at epidemic level”.
He wrote: “Deeply disappointed that the government chose to vote against – once again – creating a specific offence of violence against retail workers. This violence is at epidemic level. @UKLabour support @UsdawUnion’s campaign for a new offence to tackle it.”
Debating the Bill amendment at the Public Bill Committee on 30 January, policing minister Chris Phil said there are a “number of potential weaknesses in the new clause”.
Philp said that as it is already a criminal offence to assault a retail worker, “just as it is an offence to assault anybody”, so the proposed new offence would “replace only common assault”, and it would not make “any difference” to replace this.
He added another “issue” to be the “equity between retail workers and other public-facing workers”.
“This new clause targets only retail workers,” he said. “There are quite a few other workers with an equally strong claim. If we accept new clause 41 as drafted, reasonable questions might arise about teachers, who sometimes suffer assault at school, or bus, tram or tube drivers. They might say, ‘What about us?’
“In the previous bit of legislation we directed it towards the inclusion of all public-facing workers, not just retail workers.”
Norris responded: “When we changed the law in relation to health workers, it was because there was a recognised high incidence of assaults on them. We have the same situation now with shopworkers. We do not have the same situation with teachers, refuse collectors or other public servants.”
In a letter to Home Secretary James Cleverly, the Co-operative Party – which has an electoral pact with Labour – and USDAW demanded action to tackle the escalating crisis.
They wrote: “Throughout the country criminals have been given the freedom to loot, with organised crime gangs often stealing to order and persistently repeating these offences in the same shops. What’s more, these criminal acts often act as flashpoints for anti-social behaviour against retail staff who are subject to appalling levels of violence, threats and abuse as they go about their jobs.”
Federation of Independent Retailers (Fed) president Muntazir Dipoti has previously expressed support for an amendment to the Bill.
Calling on MPs for action, he said: “The burden of crime prevention shouldn’t fall on retailers’ shoulders. Government intervention is crucial to safeguard retailers, particularly smaller shops.”
In Scotland, abusing or behaving violently towards a shop worker has already been passed as a stand alone offence.
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