I’m appalled to see new figures from the shop workers’ trade union, USDAW, showing that 260 shop staff are subject to violent attacks across Britain every day. Every one of these is unacceptable, but the new statistics represent a 40% rise in just the last two years.

The attacks form part of an ongoing spike in violent crime, which has followed the Government’s slashing of 21,000 police officers, and thousands of police staff.

While serving on the Bill Committee for the Offensive Weapons Bill I’ve worked with USDAW to try to address concerns over shop staff safety, but the simple fact is that no legislation can keep people safe without the resources to ensure public safety.

The Government’s current attempt to land police forces with an additional bill for officer pensions, at a time when budgets are at unprecedented lows, will put additional strain on already overstretched budgets and make these attacks even tougher to adequately prevent and prosecute.