Ministers are considering making trespass a criminal offence to stop travellers moving onto private land.

James Brokenshire, the Communities secretary, has discussed the matter with his Irish counterpart, as trespass is already a crime in Ireland.

He wants to give police more powers to evict trespassers following a series of incidents in which travellers have taken up residence on land and the police have not acted swiftly to remove them.

Earlier this year there was outrage when travellers entered and wrecked the Thwaites brewery in Lancashire, and were allowed to drive away by police after causing £100,000-worth of damage.

Mr Brokenshire held talks about how the law works in Ireland with the country’s Housing minister Eoghan Murphy on August 28, The Telegraph can disclose.

Ireland changed trespass from a civil to a criminal offence in 2002.