The Home Secretary has vowed to “zap” county lines gangs and tackle rural crime during a visit to Welshpool ahead of Thursday’s Senedd election.

Priti Patel and Conservative PCC candidate Jon Burns visited a pharmacy, butchers and a coffee shop in the town on Wednesday morning with one last push before voters head to the polls on Thursday, May 6.

She also visited a farm at Alberbury, and spoke about police efforts to tackle rural crime.

NFU Cymru says around one in five Welsh farmers was a victim of crime in 2020, and Ms Patel told the County Times that the government is investing £15billion in policing.

“We need a Conservative Police and Crime Commissioners to drive policing strategies that focus on rural crime,” she said.

“If you do not have a Police and Crime Commissioner that does not focus on issues that matter in their communities, and does not prioritise rural crime, drug crime and violent crime, then the money that I have been securing for police is not going to go to those priority areas which is why I want Jon elected.

“I need and want more Police and Crime Commissioners to deliver the government’s vision of cutting crime and that is rural crime, violence and drug crime, looking after our neighbourhoods and making sure we have got more bobbies on the beat.

"We are recruiting 20,000 police officers in England and Wales, and so far we have got 8,771 new police officers, so we are 44 per cent of the way there already. It matters.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel visit to Pecknall farm, Alberbury owner by the Bowdler Family with Craig Williams MP and Russell George AM on Wednesday 5th May 2021. Picture by Phil Blagg Photography. PB020-2021-57

Home Secretary Priti Patel visit to Pecknall farm, Alberbury owner by the Bowdler Family with Craig Williams MP and Russell George AM on Wednesday 5th May 2021. Picture by Phil Blagg Photography. PB020-2021-57

Home Secretary Priti Patel visit to Welshpool with Craig Williams MP and Russell George AM on Wednesday 5th May 2021. Pictured at Coco Coffee House Welshpool with Ruth Canning, Glyn Davies and Anwen Parry (County Times) Picture by Phil Blagg

Home Secretary Priti Patel visit to Welshpool with Craig Williams MP and Russell George AM on Wednesday 5th May 2021. Pictured at Coco Coffee House Welshpool with Ruth Canning, Glyn Davies and Anwen Parry (County Times) Picture by Phil Blagg

Home Secretary Priti Patel visit to Welshpool with Craig Williams MP and Russell George AM on Wednesday 5th May 2021. Pictured talking to staff from Rowlands Pharmacy, Welshpool. Picture by Phil Blagg Photography. PB020-2021-7

 

“We have put in £65million into what the Prime Minister calls a ‘rolling up county lines’,” she added.  “Basically, we need to zap them and shut them down.

"We have shut 650 lines in the last 12 months which is phenomenal and it is down to the investment we are putting in. Parts of north Wales have particularly benefitted from the investment.

"We are very much targeting drug gangs and targeting criminals who are peddling that filth on the streets of the country with hundreds and hundreds of arrests. We are hunting these people down.

“The scandal of drug crime is that there are so many vulnerable people and children who are caught up in that network of being preyed upon and being cuckooed. There are some brilliant work being carried out. I am very proud of our police officers.

“My agenda, and I’m very unapologetic about this, is law and order, dealing with crime, cutting crime, getting rid of the awful drugs off our streets, going after criminals, and tougher sentences. These elections matter, no one can just sit at home.”

Other candidates in the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner election include the incumbent, Dafydd Llywelyn (Plaid Cymru), who has previously held meetings aimed at developing a “collaborative” approach to rural crime, plus Lib Dem Glyn Preston and Labour’s Philippa Thompson.