Shoplifting crimes in Surrey reached a record high in the past year, new figures show.

It comes as major retailers raised concerns about the rising cost of theft, while the Government has vowed to make assaulting a shopworker a specific criminal offence.

Figures from the Home Office show there were 5,645 shoplifting crimes recorded by Surrey Police in the year to March – a 41% increase from 4,008 the year before.

It was also the highest figure since records began in 2003.

It follows the overall trend for England and Wales, as a total of 443,995 offences were logged by forces in the year to March 2024, up 30% on the 342,428 recorded in the previous 12 months.

The figure is the highest since current records began, according to the Office for National Statistics, which described the latest increase as notable.

In the recent King's speech, the Government unveiled plans to amend the Crime and Policing Bill, adding legislation to address retail crime by creating a new specific offence of assaulting a shopworker and introducing stronger measures to "tackle low-level shoplifting".

The amendments also include reversing the previous £200 theft threshold, which allows anyone stealing goods costing less than £200 to plead guilty by post.

The previous government intended to bring forward the same changes, but it was abandoned when parliament was dissolved.

The British Independent Retailers Association expressed support for these initiatives saying: "For too long, our members have faced increased incidents of theft, greater volumes of stolen products, and rising abuse towards business owners and staff."

Commenting on the national trends, ONS spokeswoman Meghan Elkin said: "There has been no change across many crime types in the last year. However, we have seen falls in fraud, while there have been increases in computer misuse and some forms of theft, such as shoplifting and theft from the person.

"Notably, shoplifting has continued to see increases and remains at its highest level in 20 years."

She added: "In addition, robbery, offences involving knives or sharp instruments, and offences involving firearms have also increased over the last year while remaining below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels."

The number of robberies recorded in England and Wales rose to 81,019, up 8% from 75,012 in the previous 12 months.

Among the robberies, there was a 13% increase in those involving a knife or sharp instrument, with 21,226 recorded by forces in 2023-24.

The national figures exclude Greater Manchester due to an IT issue in processing knife crime data.

In Surrey, there were 470 robberies recorded, with 152 (32%) involving a knife or sharp instrument.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper blamed the figures on "the disgraceful dereliction of the last Tory Government on law and order" as she promised changes under Labour.

She said: "We can’t carry on like this. This Labour Government will put neighbourhood police back on the beat in our town centres, with stronger laws on knife crime, shoplifting and assaults on shop workers to keep our communities safe.

"Labour has set an unprecedented mission to halve serious violence in 10 years and to restore confidence in policing and the criminal justice system."