SHOPWORKERS are eager for the Labour government to deliver on its promises to tackle the growing “epidemic” of retail crime, Usdaw said today.

General secretary Paddy Lillis’s comments followed a former £300-a-day shoplifter telling the BBC how he “stole to order” from shops every day to supply other businesses in the Leeds area.

Mr Lillis said that a 30 per cent increase in shoplifting in the last year was “further evidence that we are facing an epidemic of retail crime, which is hugely concerning.”