Labour candidate Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe Matthew Dorrance has welcomed his party's plan to tackle violence against shop workers.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that a UK Labour Government would bring in a new law making it a specific offence to abuse or assault shop workers, making sure such incidents are dealt with by the police.

The party has also pledged to put more police in communities, with 13,000 more neighbourhood police and community support officers, and a named officer for every community.

The Shadow Home Secretary said that since the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition took office in 2010, more criminals had escaped justice, more victims had been let down and there were fewer neighbourhood officers on our streets.

Matthew Dorrance said: "I am really pleased a Labour Government will take these steps to protect shop workers, keeping our communities safe and ensuring people whether they are working in small independent shops or larger chain stores are all protected at work.

"I am a proud former retail worker, starting from when I worked on a shoe stall at Brecon Market as an after-school job and then working in Woolies in Brecon.

"According to the latest figures from shop workers trade union Usdaw, violence against shop workers has more than doubled in the last year, with nearly one in five shop workers having suffered a violent attack whilst going about their job.

"This is just unacceptable and shows that shop workers aren't protected by the law and are bearing the brunt of fourteen years of Conservative failure to keep our communities safe.

"Polls show the choice in Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe is between me or the Conservative candidate.

"Labour has a plan to change Britain, protect our shop workers and keep our communities safe, and if I am elected as our constituency's first MP I will do all I can to ensure the delivery of this ambitious agenda.”