With issues such as inflation and labour shortages making it harder for them to earn a living, the last thing they need to worry about is rural crime and the theft of their equipment.

Just last week, for example, the NFU Mutual insurance company advised farmers to increase tractor security following a series of thefts.

Thankfully, proposals to combat rural crime and equipment theft have now cleared their first House of Commons hurdle.

Home Office Minister Chris Philp confirmed the Government would support the private member’s bill tabled by Conservative MP Greg Smith, which seeks to tackle the theft and re-sale of equipment and tools used by tradespeople and agricultural businesses. The Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill - which would mandate, for example, the fitting of forensic markings and an immobiliser on quad bikes and all terrain vehicles sold in the UK - was given an unopposed second reading by MPs and will now undergo further scrutiny in Parliament.

Conservative James Grundy, MP for Leigh, referred to such crime as a “plague of thefts”.

And as Shadow home office minister Holly Lynch, Labour MP for Halifax, rightly says: “It’s a form of criminality which for too long has blighted both rural and more urban communities, be it because of the initial theft or then because of the illicit and antisocial use of these vehicles thereafter, in constituencies across the UK.”

Let’s hope some good progress can be made.

Rural theft bill could be a big help to our farmers - The Yorkshire Post says