Countryside Alliance welcomes MPs to rural crime drop-in

On Tuesday 15 October, the Countryside Alliance hosted an MP drop-in briefing session at the Houses of Parliament. The event was held in conjunction with the National Rural Crime Network and we were joined by Superintendent Andy Huddleston from the National Rural Crime Unit, alongside representatives from JCB and NFU Mutual.

Over 70 MPs and their staff, from all major political parties, representing constituencies across the UK, came along to hear more about the impact rural crime has on rural communities across the country.

Alliance representatives shared our latest research - which is informed by the lived-experience of many of our members and supporters- and offered us an opportunity to discuss the challenges faced by rural areas, exploring how MPs can support our ongoing campaigns.

MPs also had the opportunity to take part in a quiz to guess how many power tools could be returned to their owners after over 3500 were seized by Kent Police. This was to demonstrate the need for the government to bring forward the secondary legislation required by the Equipment Theft Act which will help the police tackle this crime and enable stolen goods to be returned to their owners. To get this important Act onto the Statute Book the Alliance worked closely with Greg Smith MP in the last parliament. For those wondering Kent Police managed to return just 77 tools to their owners.

Rural crime is a key issue for rural communities and was a key plank of our Rural Charter which we launched before the general election in the summer. In it, we called upon the next government to recognise that tackling crime and increasing police visibility is a priority for the rural electorate.

While there is increasing awareness in the corridors of Westminster of the growing problem of rural crime, this awareness is often not felt by the communities that live and work in the countryside nor reflected in government policies. 50% of people who responded to our 2023 Rural Crime Survey told us they don’t think the police take rural crime seriously and 35% said they have had a crime committed against them in the past 12 months. Livestock worrying, fly-tipping, agricultural machinery theft, and hare poaching were all crimes identified by respondents as issues they wanted the police to prioritise tackling. Livestock worrying was on the political agenda in the last parliament with legislation proposed to tackle the problem.

This event was an opportunity to discuss our Rural Charter in depth, with many MPs keen to meet with us again to discuss our policies and priorities in further detail.