Lib Dems would legally force police to attend every burglary - as every 3 minutes a burglary goes unsolved

EMBARGO: IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lib Dems would legally force police to attend every burglary - as every 3 minutes a burglary goes unsolved

• The Liberal Democrats have said they would push forward emergency legislation to legally bind police forces to attend every single burglary, saying families and businesses will be petrified by how many burglars get away scot free.
   
• Over 160,000 burglaries went unsolved in England and Wales in the past year according to analysis of official figures by the Liberal Democrats.
   
• Just 6% of burglary cases resulted in a charge, whilst in 72% of cases police failed to even identify a suspect.

Police forces in England and Wales fail to charge someone in 94% of burglary cases, according to analysis of Home Office figures by the Liberal Democrats. The Party has said it would push forward emergency legislation to legally bind police forces to attend every single burglary in Britain.

The new crime figures from 2025, show that of the 223,194 burglaries reported, just 13,936 (6%) resulted in someone being charged, whilst in a whopping 160,396 (72%) cases police failed to even identify a suspect.

Nearly a quarter of burglary cases in England and Wales were reported in London by the Metropolitan Police, with 48,244 recorded last year. The Met failed to identify a suspect in 4 out of every 5 cases (79%), the highest figure of all forces.

The party has slammed the Government’s handling of the situation as “frankly appalling”, and called out Andy Burnham for failing to commit to tackling crime since taking office.
 

Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller has said if Ministers do not act, her party would push for emergency legislation to ensure that all domestic burglaries are attended by the police and properly investigated. The party have said people deserve a Burglary Response Guarantee, as currently the vast majority of burglars are getting away scot free.

 Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller said:

 “Families and businesses will be absolutely petrified to see these figures, with the vast majority of burglars getting away scot free after wreaking havoc on people's lives.

“It's frankly appalling that the Government has failed to get a grip on this, many will be left worrying that if their property is burgled, the chances are the criminal responsible will never face justice.

“The PM needs to sort this issue out now with a serious crackdown on burglaries. Liberal Democrats would urgently push forward legislation to guarantee that every single burglary is properly investigated.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

First reported by LBC: here.

Data from the Home Office for 2025, collated by the House of Commons Library: here.