I HAVE found a rare upside to the recession – there is less chance of a bailiff beating you up when he smashes down your front door for not paying your bills.

Good news is thin on the ground as the economy implodes, so let’s take heart from a little-known government U-turn that will deprive the “bailiff bullies” of their most draconian powers.

Opposition MPs have long protested that ancient freedoms – summed up in that famous phrase “An Englishman's home is his castle” – were being lost under Labour.

It is five years since bailiffs gained the power to force entry in pursuit of unpaid council tax, parking tickets and business rates – and, boy, have local authorities let rip.

According to statistics obtained by the Tories, town halls in Merseyside referred 30,000 cases in just 12 months. And that excludes Liverpool, for which no figure was available.

Top of the list was Sefton (10,365), followed by Wirral (7,388), Knowsley (7,124) and St Helens (5,825). And you can add in Halton (3,738) and Warrington (5,725).

There was the case of 79-year-old Frances Cowan, who arrived home in Halewood to find a bailiff preparing to seize possessions to cover a £480 parking debt run up by her grandson – in faraway Ipswich.

He listed her TV, video recorder, three-piece suite and wall units and gave Mrs Cowan – who was taking daily medication for heart problems – just 20 minutes to produce receipts.

The guidance states it is “reasonable to break open the door, but probably not to smash a hole in the wall”. No need for concern, then.

But, undeterred, ministers went even further when the 2007 Tribunals Act paved the way for bailiffs to physically restrain householders, pin them down and use handcuffs. And they could recover credit card debts, as well. However, although the law was passed, ministers agreed not to trigger the go-ahead to physical force until a “robust industry watchdog” was in place.

There were hints of a rethink last year, when Justice Secretary Jack Straw asked a junior minister to “look again” at the extra powers to handcuff, etc.

Finally, yesterday, a spokeswoman told me: “Ministers have no intention to widen bailiffs’ powers of entry and are considering all the enforcement provisions to ensure they remain appropriate even under this difficult financial climate.”

So there we have it. It’s OK for a bailiff to sit on top of you – except in a recession.

* IS WAVERTREE MP Jane Kennedy working too hard? The environment minister told MPs: “It is a long time since I looked at the back of my fridge, and I dread to think what is lurking there!”