It's criminal! Police boss excuses women who shoplift and says it's because of welfare cuts



A former Labour law chief who now serves as a Police and Crime Commissioner was last night accused of ‘making excuses’ for criminals after blaming welfare cuts for shoplifting by women.

Northumbria PCC Vera Baird said there was growing evidence that women were being driven to steal nappies and food because they were getting fewer benefits.

Referring to crime figures in the North-East, the senior barrister declared: ‘At the end of last year, it was apparent that people were starting to steal items they could once afford.



Vera Baird QC (right), seen with Chief Constable Sue Sim, said people were stealing items they could once afford

'There’s been growing evidence to suggest this is due to the impact of both poverty and welfare reform, with people stealing what they were once able to take for granted and just go out and buy.

‘The growth in the number of first-time women shoplifting offenders would suggest it’s affecting the poorer women in our communities, those who are experiencing the impact of the welfare reforms.’

Mrs Baird’s remarks come ten months after the Coalition introduced a £500-a-week cap on benefit payments to bring them into line with the £26,000-a-year average household income across the UK.

Tthe Coalition introduced a £500-a-week cap on benefit payments to bring them into line with the £26,000-a-year average household income across the UK

It is not the first time former Redcar MP Mrs Baird, Solicitor General in the last Labour Government, as made clear her views on the potential causes of rising crime.

Speaking last October, she said: ‘It’s shoplifting for food, for nappies, for baby food, and it has to be said this is poverty related. In a broader sense, it is people who are used to being able to buy something and now they can’t. We are seeing a trend here of some people stealing what they used to be able to pay for.’

Last night her comments sparked astonishment and anger. Tory MP Jake Berry, who is a solicitor, said: ‘This really is sending out an appalling message.

‘With people still able to receive £500 a week in benefits after the Government’s welfare reforms, it seems absurd that a former senior law officer and serving police commissioner would be making excuses and appearing to condone criminal activity like shoplifting.

‘People in her area will expect their Police and Crime Commissioner to be upholding the law – not appearing to find excuses for criminal behaviour.’

Mr Berry warned that Mrs Baird’s comments would be a ‘blow to the morale’ of the police officers in the North-East she was supposed to support. And fellow Conservative MP Robert Halfon said: ‘Her ridiculous scare-mongering will be offensive to hard-working people across the country who have made sacrifices over the last three years and to the vast majority of people, both in work and on benefits, who wouldn’t dream of committing a crime.’

Last night, Mrs Baird denied she was trying to excuse crime and said it was the police themselves who were claiming a link between increased shoplifting and benefit changes. She said: ‘I heard from officer after officer that in their view the increase in shoplifting was linked to welfare reform and people who were just getting poorer and poorer.’

But she insisted that establishing people’s possible ‘motive’ for crime was not the same as excusing them.

A highly experienced criminal barrister, Mrs Baird, 63, succeeded former Labour Cabinet Minister Mo Mowlam in her Redcar constituency in 2001.

She was made a Constitutional Affairs Minister by Tony Blair in 2006 before being promoted to the role of Solicitor General – the No 2 law officer in the Government – by Gordon Brown when he became Prime Minister in 2007.

In 2009, Mrs Baird was accused of failing to clean up after her puppy fouled a railway station platform. Soon after losing her seat in 2010, she tried unsuccessfully to dodge a driving ban after being caught speeding at 98mph on the M4.