EAST Yorkshire MP Greg Knight has welcomed new figures indicating a dramatic reduction in metal theft, following a change in the law.

He said figures released by Network Rail showed a 67 per cent drop in metal theft over the past year, while BT had seen a 50 per cent fall and metal theft from churches in Yorkshire had also fallen sharply.

Mr Knight said: “This positive news follows the implementation of recent Government measures to tackle metal theft, by requiring all scrap metal dealers to be licensed and making it illegal for them to pay for scrap in cash.”