The NFRN is working with MPs to grow the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Retail Crime in a push to get lawmakers to take incidents more seriously.

Speaking in Parliament, NFRN national president Linda Sood told an audience of MPs and Lords: “We want the government, police and police crime commissioners to take the issue more seriously and for judges to hand out sentences that match the gravity of the crimes committed. We want the police to recognise that shop theft cannot be downgraded.”

Conservative MP and chairman of the APPG Martin Vickers called the increase in retail crime “frightening” and urged retailers: “put pressure on your members of parliament, your police commissioners, your councillors to ensure the retail trade gets the service it deserves from local police forces.”

The NFRN’s newly launched Independent Retail Report 2018 details the impact of crime on retailers. Government stats recently revealed an 11% increase in retail crime that many blamed on police cuts.