The government looks set to introduce new legislation that will make it harder for people to sell stolen metal, just days after a private members bill aimed at making life difficult for metal thieves was scrapped in the commons.

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The Metal Theft Bill had called for such measures to be adopted in order to decrease transparency in the scrap metal sector and deter would-be thieves.

Commenting on Ms May’s announcement, NFU chief rural affairs adviser David Collier said, “We are very pleased to see this move from government, as metal theft has become a scourge for the farming industry. This will make it so much harder to sell stolen metal, and we hope it will deter criminals from engaging in this practice.”

The government said it would release full details of the new regulations on scrap in due course. The NFU said it has made recommendations for steps that could be taken to prevent or reduce metal theft, including giving the police powers to close scrapyards that support criminal activity, and magistrates powers to restrict dealers’ freedom to operate.

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