Shrinks like breaking laws (9)

I believe the answer is:

decreases

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'shrinks' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'like breaking laws' is the wordplay.
'like' becomes 'as'.
'breaking' is an insertion indicator.
'laws' becomes 'decrees' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'as' put into 'decrees' is 'DECREASES'.

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I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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