Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, met with senior figures from all sectors of the film industry in London yesterday to discuss how to tackle the growing problem of piracy.

Speaking at the event, held at BAFTA and titled Stop Film And Video Theft, Hodge said: 'Last year alone, thieves cost the UK film and TV industry almost $1bn (£459m) - that's more than five times the cost of the last Harry Potter film or more than eight times Casino Royale's takings at the UK box office. We urgently need to reduce the number of illegal downloads and make it much tougher for film thieves to operate.'

The outcome of the panel discussion between the minister and the UK Film Council, IP Trust, Film Education and the MPA, was that there needs to be more education of young people through schools and colleges, greater public awareness, cross industry dialogues with ISPs, and increased enforcement activity through the work of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).

MPAA CEO, Dan Glickman, said: ' This (piracy) requires action now and we are delighted that the industry here in the UK has come together to collaborate and step up efforts to implement a regional strategy that could help reduce the impact of film theft in the UK on our film industries.'

This latest battle cry from the industry follows a UK anti-piracy advertising campaign launched back in June featuring a guy with his girlfriend in a pub who is humiliated and referred to as a 'Knock Off Nigel' for purchasing counterfeit goods. The idea behind that campaign, instigated by the same people at this latest event, was to go beyond 'lecturing and hectoring' people to actually create a social stigma around buying 'knock off' DVDs. The advert, which has been screened in UK theatres over the summer, is now being shown on Channel 4.

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