A CALL for specialist police teams to tackle rural crime has been repeated by local MP Rachel Gilmour in the wake of revelations of a 168 per cent rise in thefts in the Somerset countryside last year.

Mrs Gilmour was speaking after figures released by NFU Mutual showed a huge spike in rural crime during 2024.

She said the Government needed to ‘get serious’ about tackling rural crime which in Somerset amounted to losses of £2.1 million more than the previous year.

Mrs Gilmour’s Tiverton and Minehead constituency covers West Somerset, several parishes bordering Wellington, and parts of the Blackdown Hills and Culm Valley.

Now, she has reiterated her calls for Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to revise rural policing strategies.

Mrs Gilmour wants improved funding for the police to create dedicated rural crime busting teams.

She was ‘deeply concerned but not surprised’ by the NFU’s rural crime statistics.

Mrs Gilmour said: “Constituents have come to my surgeries, telling me how worried they are about the rise in both rural and coastal crime.

“The scourge of rural crime is impacting the rural way of life.

“It is time for the Government to get serious on rural crime.

“These recent statistics from NFU Mutual are deeply concerning, and I know that constituents across Tiverton and Minehead are extremely worried about this huge rise in organised rural crime, as well as anti-social behaviour.

“That is why I wrote to the Home Secretary demanding more funding for rural policing, as well as speaking in Parliament last week about the devastating impact that tool theft can have on an individual’s livelihood.

“I am yet to receive a reply from the Home Secretary, however, I will continue to press forward on this issue in Parliament until we see a change in strategy from the Home Secretary that our communities need and deserve.”