Police are “not interested” in dealing with shoplifting offences, the chairman of top retailer M&S has claimed.

Archie Norman, who served as the Tory MP for Tunbridge Wells between 1997 and 2005, claimed retailers were being forced to spend “a lot of money” on trying to keep crime rates down.

Cameras have been installed across a number of stores, along with store detectives to deter crime.

Norman argued a drop in shoplifting rates at M&S stores was “mostly” due to the work the retailer has undertaken to tackle offences.

He told LBC: “We get very little help from the police.

“I think we have to accept that the police are not interested in this sort of crime anymore.

“Whether we like it or not, that’s the way it has gone.”

Police data revealed Leeds City Centre, Fitzrovia West & Soho and Cathays South & Bute Park were the worst impacted areas for shoplifting.

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However, King Edward’s Parade in Eastbourne had the fewest thefts solved, with 97 per cent having had no outcome.

Norman added: “When people are hard up, or particularly when there’s a growth in other forms of crime, particularly drugs-related crime, then one way of financing it is to go and steal from shops… it’s understandable given what we’ve been through in the last couple of years, we’ve seen more of that.”

Home Secretary James Cleverly last month informed police to stop treating shoplifting as a minor crime.

More than 430,000 shoplifting offences were logged last year, officials figures revealed.

The number constituted a rise of 37 per cent on the previous year and the highest level on record.

Such an increase coincides with police struggling to solve cases, with the proportion of cases solved falling to 10.5 per cent from 15 per cent.

In contrast, the proportion of cases solved in 2016 stood at almost 28 per cent.

Recent research from industry body the British Retail Consortium also found that incidents of violence or abuse of shop workers had risen to 1,300 a day last year from 870, compared with a year earlier.

Met Police commander Owain Richards said the force was working with retailers across London.

He added: “We know first-hand the impact that retail crime has on staff and businesses.

“We have renewed our commitment to tackling shoplifting and retail crime in collaboration with the wider business community... Our call handlers will assess each and every report and make an assessment based on available lines of enquiry.”