Labour MP Barry Gardiner found himself under scrutiny from Tory MP Tom Hunt during a fiery debate on GB News.
During Lee Anderson’s Real World, the battle of ideas turned to the Government’s plan to hand prolific shoplifters mandatory jail time.
Judges will be told to hand repeat offenders prison sentences as part of a crime and justice bill set to be introduced to Parliament later this year, according to The Times.
Gardiner outlined Labour’s plans to add a further 13,000 officers to Britain’s streets, a plea dubbed “bogus” during a fiery discussion.
“I think it’s disgraceful that people are shoplifting”, Gardiner said.
“That’s why Labour wants to put 13,000 police officers onto the streets to get on top of the lawlessness.
“If you look at the figures, under your lot [Conservatives], the figures went up to 382,000, that’s about 80,000-100,000 more than it was under Labour.
“The lack of police on the streets under the Conservatives has meant more shoplifting. Once we have the police, these people can be prosecuted.”
Hunt hit back at the remarks, dubbing them “bogus”.
He retorted: “We have got significant numbers of new police in Suffolk. The problem is, a lot of shoplifters are reporting things to the police but nothing is happening.
“I have some sympathy because they feel if they spend time forwarding it on, nothing will happen.”
The Ipswich MP went on to call for a “deterrent” in order to tackle the epidemic of shoplifting.
“We’ve got to have a deterrent, I have got sympathy for the police though”, he said.
“If they are going to fill in a report for a repeat shoplifter, only for the Crown Prosecution Service [CPS] not to do much, it’s not an incentive for them to do much.
“We’ve got to look at the court system and the CPS and ensure there is a deterrent.”
Other crimes which do not automatically result in a custodial sentence – such as burglary, theft and common assault – will also fall under the proposed rules when several offences are committed.
It comes as watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office reportedly approved the use of facial recognition software from company Facewatch, allowing retailers to connect to a system that links to CCTV surveillance cameras in shop and has access to a database of prolific shoplifters.
Mark Johnson, from civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “Live facial recognition is a dystopian mass surveillance tool that turns innocent members of the public into walking ID cards.
“Deploying this face-scanning surveillance to track the public is a dangerously authoritarian step that aligns the UK with the likes of Russia and China. Rather than promote its use, the Government should follow other liberal democracies around the world that are legislating to ban this Orwellian technology from public spaces.”
The Home Office said: “Shoplifting strikes at the heart of local communities and we expect police forces to take this seriously – deterring this kind of crime but also catching more offenders.
“We have delivered more police officers in England and Wales than ever before and invested a record of up to £17.6 billion in 2023/24 into policing, including for more visible patrols in our neighbourhoods and better security such as CCTV and alarm systems.”
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