THE country’s £2 million rural crime epidemic and the reduction of police numbers in the countryside topped the agenda when MP Ian Liddell-Grainger met the Police Federation’s Simon Kempton at a federation-sponsored event in Westminster.

Mr Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said the meeting gave him a valuable opportunity to voice his very real concerns that the countryside was being starved of resources at the expense of town and city.

“I have repeatedly raised this issue with senior police officers but never have they been prepared to accept the prima facie evidence that while manpower numbers have been in constant decline the cost of rural crime has steadily moved upwards,” he said.

MPs are now debating a Bill which will allows for all new ATVs and quad bikes to be fitted with immobilisers and forensic markings with owners’ details registered on a database, with the aim of both deterring thefts and making stolen vehicles easier to trace and return.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said the Bill was a welcome step.

“The current chances of a quad bike or ATV being returned to their rightful owner are close to zero, with the majority of farmers now accepting the offer of a crime number as representing the limit of police action,” he said.

“I am glad this legislation recognises the problem: what a shame then that the root of the problem - a lack of any police presence in the countryside - is being left unaddressed.”