Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered her first multi-year Spending Review yesterday, allocating £2bn of extra cash to the police.
Reeves announced a 2.3% annual increase in police spending power in a bid to “protect our people, our homes and our streets”.
She also told MPs that the government intends to invest at least £80m per year for “tobacco cessation programmes and enforcement to support delivery of the Tobacco & Vapes bill”.
The Spending Review 2025 outlined how much funding government departments will receive over the next three years, until 2029.
The additional funds for the police would support the government’s ‘Plan for Change’ commitment, said Reeves, which would see 13,000 more bobbies on the beat across England and Wales by 2029.
While retailers tackle the highest levels of retail crime, the convenience industry welcomed the government’s pledge to ensure that every community across the country would have a ”dedicated and specialist neighbourhood policing teams”.
The British Independent Retail Association, meanwhile, labelled the move as “far too slow”. It said retailers are “suffering from an epidemic of retail crime” and need more police presence now, not over the course of the next three years.
Responding to the Spending Review, The Fed said it offered “little in the way of support for beleaguered small businesses”
The trade body’s national president Mo Razzaq said: “Although plans for an extra £2billion for the police and increasing the number of neighbourhood officers by 13,000 were announced, it is disappointing that our repeated calls for grants to help retailers improve their security systems have been unsuccessful so far.
“We will be writing to the government to ask for clarity on what the enforcement entails. The trade in illicit tobacco is an increasing problem for retailers, and we want to see firm action to tackle this.
“In addition, our members are currently adapting to higher National Insurance contributions that were announced in the Autumn budget, but which only took effect in April.
“In the wake of the spending review and run-up to the next Budget, we will be calling on the government to reduce the cost pressures on our businesses by reviewing recent tax increases and providing proper Business Rates Reform, so they can continue to serve their communities.”
Jason Towse, managing director of security firm Mitie, commented on the review: “Against a vast backdrop of threats to public safety, ranging from organised retail crime to the ongoing epidemic of violence against women and girls, many were hoping to see more from the Government on delivering its promise to improve safety on our streets.
“Regardless of the number of officers on the streets, integrating policing with world-class technology and specialist support in the private sector can act as a further deterrent to offenders and ensure that those who do offend face appropriate consequences. As an industry, we stand ready to support the Government and the Police to turn the tide on crime.”
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