Bishop welcomes new law to crack down on scrap metal dealers

THE BISHOP of Exeter has welcomed new legislation that tightens up the laws governing scrap metal dealers.

The backbench Scrap Metal Dealers Bill, which is going through the House of Lords, builds on moves taken last year.

Since December dealers have been banned from using cash to buy metal, but the new legislation closes a loophole that excluded itinerant traders.

For the Government, Earl Attlee had urged members of the House to back an amendment that would have put a five year expiry date on the legislation, but peers voted by 89 to 31 to reject the move arguing it would create uncertainty.

Speaking against the so-called sunset provision, Bishop Michael Langrish said: “Small country churches and churches in urban areas, which often have small, very poor congregations, find themselves at the forefront of these metal thefts over and over again, and then they find themselves hard-pressed to get the insurance cover that they need.

“If these amendments go through, the development will be viewed with great alarm and great distress by many people in small churches up and down the country.”