Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations his Department has received on (a) violent threats and (b) demands made by gangs of tarmac workers to (i) farmers and (ii) rural landowners.

Defra officials have had recent meetings with the NFU, the National Rural Crime Network and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, to discuss crimes occurring in the countryside, including hare coursing, fly-tipping and theft from farms.

Incidences of criminal activity and threatening behaviour affecting farmers and rural landowners are a matter for the police.