It’s obvious why crime is up in Britain

Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its annual report on crime in England and Wales. This combines data on crimes reported to the police and the Crime Survey for England and Wales to produce the best estimate of how much crime is being committed. It makes for grim reading. While overall crime is up 10 per cent, some offences have soared. Robbery is up from an estimated 60,000 incidents last year to an estimated 139,000 this year, although the ONS say they prefer to use the police reported figures for robbery which show a rise of 6 per cent, from 77,106 to 81,931. Meanwhile, violence with injury is estimated to have risen from 376,000 to 562,000 (a 49 per cent increase). Shoplifting has risen by 29 per cent to reach a record high, of 469,788 offences.

It’s important to recognise that many of these crime levels are low in historic terms, especially when compared to the 1990s.