A two-week Metropolitan Police operation has just seen 243 people arrested and 159 knives seized in a single crackdown. Meanwhile the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April, has had to create brand-new offences to deal with crimes that should never have been allowed to spiral in the first place. The message underneath all of it is one the public has known for years: Britain's streets are not safe enough.
A Law That Admits the Old One Failed
Take the so-called GBP 200 shoplifting threshold - the policy under which thefts of goods under GBP 200 were effectively treated as not worth prosecuting. For years, shopkeepers watched thieves walk out of their stores knowing the police would not come. The new Act finally makes clear there is no level below which theft is "insignificant". Good. But ask yourself: why did it take this long, and how much damage was done to honest businesses while the rule stood? A government that has to pass a law telling the police to take theft seriously has already told you how badly things had gone wrong.
Retail Workers Should Not Need a Special Law
The Act also creates a specific offence of assaulting or abusing a shop worker. Nobody should oppose protecting retail staff - they deserve it. But the very fact this was deemed necessary tells you how routine abuse and intimidation behind the till counter had become. We have reached a point where ordinary people doing ordinary jobs need bespoke legislation just to be safe at work. That is not a triumph. It is a symptom.
Visible Policing Is What Actually Works
New offences and tougher maximum sentences look impressive in a press release. But criminals are not deterred by clauses in an Act they will never read. They are deterred by the realistic prospect of being caught, charged, and punished. What actually cuts crime is officers on the street, swift justice, and sentences that mean what they say. Crackdowns that arrest hundreds in a fortnight prove the police can deliver when resourced and directed properly - the question is why this is the exception rather than the everyday norm.
What Reform UK Would Do
Reform UK would put thousands more police back on the beat in visible, proactive policing - not stuck behind desks or policing social media posts. We would back zero tolerance for theft, anti-social behaviour and knife crime, end the early-release culture that puts offenders straight back on the streets, and ensure sentences reflect the seriousness of the crime. Law and order is the first duty of the state. It is time it was treated that way - with action, not just another Act of Parliament.
The public should not have to feel unsafe in their own high streets. Reform UK will make safe streets the standard, not the headline.