UK retailers demand action on rising crime

LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters): Some 88 UK retail leaders, including the bosses of Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer, have signed a letter to interior minister Suella Braverman, demanding action over rising rates of retail crime.
Rising crime is increasingly becoming a political issue in Britain ahead of an expected national election in 2024.
Industry lobby group the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said its 2023 crime survey showed that incidents of violence and abuse towards retail workers almost doubled compared with pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents every day in 2021/22.
It also put the scale of retail theft at 953 million pounds ($1.2 billion), despite over 700 million pounds in crime prevention spending by retailers.
"A separate BRC survey of members in 2023 found that levels of shoplifting in 10 major cities had risen by an average of 27%," it said.