Fed’s National President Meets with Merseyside PCC

The Fed met with Emily Spurrell, police and crime commissioner for Merseyside, on Monday, July 6 to discuss some of the challenges facing small retailers in the Merseyside region as well as across the rest of the UK.

Attending the meeting was the Fed’s National President Hemanshu Patel and the Fed’s political engagement coordinator, Douglas Oliver, as well as the PCC’s Portfolio and Partnerships Officer leading on retail crime, Natalie Carroll.

During the meeting, Ms Spurrell spoke about the partnership work her office had done on leading retailer business forums on crime, intensified enforcement, hotspot policing involving PCSOs and a project that funded a Safer POD in Liverpool city centre.

The Fed team outlined its concerns about theft and harassment of small shop workers and cases of theft which remain stubbornly high. It explained to the Merseyside area PCC that the Fed has engaged positively with the government including meeting the crime and policing minister Sarah Jones in recent months, where initiatives including the Crime and Policing Act and last year’s Safer Summer Streets Initiative and Winter of Action, which the Commissioner had also supported, were discussed.

Mr Patel spoke about the growing problems caused by rogue trade in the high street, particularly relating to black market tobacco. He said that whilst the Police’s role was important, a strategic multiagency approach was needed and the Fed was starting to have some success in its call on the government to take faster action to close down shops which had acted illegally.

The Fed team also said it was backing extra resourcing for trading standards at a national level, though it was also calling on its 8,000 members across the country to always report such activity through Crimestoppers.

Mr Patel also said that greater incentives needed to be provided for local authorities so that fines could be reinvested by local authority teams so as to incentivise local authority trading standards.

As well as serving as Merseyside’s Labour PCC since May 2021, Ms Spurrell currently serves as chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) providing strategic leadership across England. The Fed team promised to work closely together going forward, particularly following the formation of a new government in Westminster, which will almost certainly be led by fellow North West Labour representative – Makerfield MP and erstwhile Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell said: “I welcomed the opportunity to meet with representatives from the Federation of Independent Retailers to hear directly about the challenges facing shop owners and retail workers across Merseyside.

 “Retail crime, theft and the intimidation of shop staff has a significant impact on businesses, employees and local communities. Through our Retail Crime Forums, partnership work with retailers, targeted enforcement activity and neighbourhood policing, we are working with partners to tackle these issues and make our town and city centres safer.

“This discussion was a valuable opportunity to share ideas and explore where we can work together to support retailers, strengthen reporting and prevent crime.”

Mr Patel said: “It was a very positive meeting. The Fed continues to ensure that the voice of independent retailers is heard in parliament, government and in the police and this meeting was an important part of that. We look forward to working with Ms Spurrell and her team in the future.”