Labour leader pledges to tackle rural crime after hearing about armed robbery

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was told about a terrifying attack on a village post office as he pledged to tackle rural crime with a cross-government strategy.

Sir Keir discussed experiences of crime with local people as he toured the village of Cawood, in North Yorkshire.

He was told about a robbery by an organised gang six weeks ago at the post office and shop in nearby Monk Fryston, which left one staff member injured.

They told the leader of the opposition 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 amount of cash they hold.

Sir Keir, shadow home secretary Yvette 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.

“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.”

He said Labour’s strategy involved bringing Government departments together to work in a joined-up way and increase neighbourhood patrols.

Sir Keir said: “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, to make sure that these beautiful villages and towns that we have here in North Yorkshire, but across all rural areas, get the sort of service that they need to deal with the crime that is really troubling them.

“Listening to people from these villages here this morning, it’s really, really on their minds.”

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.”

Ms Cooper said this would be paid for with savings of hundreds of millions of pounds through tackling “wasteful contracts” across police forces.