Labour’s pledge on crime in rural areas

‘Joined-up’ approach on issue that is blighting communities

A GOVERNMENT-BACKED Rural Crime Strategy is being pledged by Labour to tackle an issue which they say is blighting communities.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was joined by Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in North Yorkshire yesterday as new research from the House of Commons revealed that crime rates in rural areas have surged by 32 per cent since 2011, compared to 24 per cent for urban areas.

The party’s action plan to tackle rural crime will ensure cross-government co-ordination between the Home Office, Defra and other departments to take down rural organised crime gangs, as well as increasing patrols in rural areas and clamping down on anti-social behaviour, agricultural crime and drug dealing with tougher measures and stronger laws, they said.

During the visit yesterday to Cawood, near Selby, Sir Keir was told about a terrifying attack on a village post office in neighbouring Monk Fryston.

The robbery, by an organised gang six weeks ago, left one staff member injured.

The shopkeepers told Sir Keir how they had decided to end the post office part of the business in the wake of the raid.

They told the Leader of the Opposition, inset, how the closure of banks in rural areas had led to people using post offices instead, leading to them becoming a target for organised crime due to the amount of cash they hold.

Sir Keir, Ms Cooper and Labour’s candidate for the forthcoming North Yorkshire mayoral election, David Skaith, who joined them on the visit, told the shopkeepers how concerned they were about their experience.

“It’s a reminder that rural crime really matters,” Sir Keir told reporters.

“For them it’s a life-changing decision that they decided they can’t run the post office any more.”

He said: “Also, they know it impacts on their community. They are there to serve their community but they feel, for their own safety, they’ve got to take this measure.

“And that’s why we’re all three frustrated by people who think that rural crime is some kind of low-level crime. It isn’t. That’s a really serious example.”

Sir Keir said Labour’s strategy involved bringing government departments together to work in a joined-up way and increase neighbourhood patrols. He added: “What we’re hearing here is that, whilst there is a bit of a response, it’s slow and disjointed.

“So, we’ve put together a cross-government strategy to make sure that all the relevant departments will be engaged in, not only putting the strategy together, but then enforcing it.

Ms Cooper said the plan was for 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs across the country to increase patrols.

She said: “That has to be for all areas – for our cities, for our towns, but, crucially, also for our rural communities across the country. And that means more neighbourhood patrols in rural areas.”

Their plan was welcomed by the CLA (Country Land and Business Association), who called for it to be properly resourced.

CLA president Victoria Vyvyan said: “Criminals are often emboldened by the isolation of rural communities. As a result, rural crime is anything but petty, and it often comes with the explicit threat of violence from thugs linked to organised criminal gangs.

“Expensive machinery is being stolen and moved abroad, hare-coursing is being live-streamed for illegal international betting markets, even crimes many thought of as being a thing of the past – such as sheep rustling – are increasingly common.

“The first place to start must surely be ending the chronic underfunding of rural police forces.”

The sacrifices of war have left indelible marks on Yorkshire so it is only right that those who lost their lives are commemorated.

And the Second World War had a widespread impact, affecting people in all corners of the planet.

That was certainly evident when 80 years after his death Airman Sidney William Cains’ family was finally able to locate his grave in Stonefall Cemetery, Harrogate. Prior to that his family from New Zealand were unable to visit his grave and only after a family friend with the help of a cemetery gardener at Stonefall was able to locate it.

The reunion has spurred an entry from gardening teams at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to this week's Harrogate Flower Show.

In a fitting tribute the entry incorporates New Zealand plants with the CWGC formal planting scheme. A tribute that nearly moved Airman Sidney William Cains’ nephew to tears.