On 14th of January, I was delighted to welcome the Policing Minister to Ipswich town centre, following my invitation in the House of Commons earlier last year.
The Minister and I met with residents, businesses and other local stakeholders to discuss the regeneration of Ipswich town centre. We discussed the steps being taken to tackle shoplifting, retail crime and anti-social behaviour, as well as other government measures to support local businesses and consumers.
Since coming into office, the Government has introduced tough new measures to tackle retail crime. These include the introduction of a standalone offence for attacking a shop worker and ending the £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters.
The Government has also provided millions of pounds worth of funding to regenerate town centres like Ipswich. This includes significant new investment in neighbourhood policing, as well as plans to give councils new powers for a community right to buy. I welcome these measures as one of my main priorities as an MP is to help revive our town centre and I know that people, rightly, want retail crime and anti-social behaviour tackled as part of that change.
The Chancellor’s October Budget also took key steps to support local businesses, including exempting hundreds of thousands of small businesses from paying any employer National Insurance contributions. It also announced a permanent business rates cut for shops, pubs and restaurants, steps which I welcomed in a visit to several Ipswich businesses in December to mark Small Business Saturday.
From cracking down on retail crime and anti-social behaviour to supporting local businesses and consumers; our Labour Government has already begun to deliver much-needed change, with the promise of more yet to come.
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