Ministers are this morning highlighting efforts to crack down on a shoplifting "free-for-all". They're introducing a new specific offence of assaulting a retail worker - something Labour pledged to do in their 2024 election manifesto - as well as closing the £200 shoplifting "loophole". Current policing rules define shoplifting below £200 as "low value", which forces often don't investigate. The British Retail Consortium says this has led to a perception among crime groups that police do not