Hayes in the House: Shoplifting and Social Decay
A fair society rests on the simple civic expectation that those who do what is right will be recognised as good citizens, and conversely, those who do wrong will face punitive consequences. Such an assumption is echoed in countless civilities and courtesies, as well as a host of fables and stories, transmitted across generations to embed an abiding sense of right and wrong.
On this basis, one might reasonably assume that when a long-serving shop assistant attempted to prevent a repeat shoplifter from stealing, they would have been congratulated, and the offender prosecuted. Yet the antithesis is the reality in modern Britain. Just before Easter, Walker Smith, an employee of Waitrose for the best part of two decades, attempted to prevent a known thief from leaving the shop with a bag of stolen Easter eggs. Appallingly, the supermarket chain dismissed the employee for breaching company policy, which, apparently, prohibits Mr Smith’s kind of courage. In contrast, the thief, despite being a known shoplifter, is unlikely to face any penalty. Wealthy Waitrose being soft on crime puts thousands of small retailers, who lack the supermarket giant’s resources, at risk.
This incident is indicative of a social malaise as our common sense of just deserts is undermined.
Only days earlier in the same part of London, a swarm of youths descended on shops, rioting and looting. Businesses were forced to shut while the police struggled to gain control. What unfolded was a glimpse of what happens when social restraint is abandoned.
Shoplifting has soared in recent years – surging 20 per cent in the year prior to 2025 –and here in rural Lincolnshire it is a growing problem for local traders. Surely this cannot be reconciled with the Government’s increasing indifference to petty crime as the likelihood of prosecution remains negligible and Ministers are scrapping many short-term prison sentences – giving free rein to both shoplifters and culprits who commit common assault, burglary, and criminal damage. Thieves, thugs, and yobs realise they can do endless harm without facing appropriate consequences as too many so-called ‘petty’ crimes now go virtually unchecked.
For the law-abiding majority it is deeply demoralising to witness the minority who refuse to play by the rules getting away with it; particularly as law-abiding Britons carry the cost. Last year, UK retailers faced £2.2 billion in losses from shoplifting, as well as the additional expense of hiring security, caging packets of meat, and putting anti-theft tags on almost anything that is not nailed down.
I have long rallied against the idea that crime is a sickness to be treated; rather, it is a malevolent choice made by those who are careless of the harm they do to others. The principal objective of the criminal justice system must be to punish the guilty, which is why I have repeatedly opposed the Government’s plan to curb sentences of less than 12 months. My constituents know, as I do, that in a lawless society it is the vulnerable who suffer most because, unlike Waitrose bosses, they live on the front line of crime.
