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Rural Britons would benefit from 1,000 new police officers under Conservative plans to tackle an epidemic of countryside crime.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch laid out her party’s blueprint exclusively to the Sunday Express, amid mounting fears of lawbreaking in non-urban communities.

The strategy would see more officers on the beat, alongside a clampdown on fly-tipping and illegal traveller encampments.

Labour has yet to set out its own approach to the issue, the Conservatives say, despite Sir Keir Starmer pledging to tackle it two years ago.

MPs now fear Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who represents a Manchester seat, will overlook the problems affecting rural England.

Mrs Badenoch MP told the Sunday Express that Labour “have basically written off rural Britain.”

She added: “Andy Burnham is more interested in Manchester than the countryside. Given the apathy from government, it’s no surprise that farmers and tradesmen who have been victims of crime have stopped expecting anything to come of a call to the police.

“From fly-tipping, to illegal traveller encampments, to tool theft, it’s time Labour started taking rural crime seriously. Our Rural Crime Plan backs the people who feed and build this country. Only the Conservatives stand up for the countryside and our rural communities.”

Tory plans would see the introduction of specialised rural crime task forces across the country, backed by 1,000 dedicated officers who would deal solely with such offences.

These recruits would come from the wider 10,000 to be hired under any new Conservative government.

Mrs Badenoch has also pledged to crack down on secondary markets where stolen agricultural machinery is sold on.

Sentencing guidelines would also be rewritten to impose the toughest sentences on those who make off with tradesman’s tools and farmers’ gear.

Further to those announcements, the Conservatives have confirmed they would repeal the Human Rights Act (HRA) to hand police the power they need to remove traveller encampments.

While the police have authority to move people occupying property illegally under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Tories argue the HRA makes this impossible to enforce.

Matt Vickers MP, a Conservative Shadow Home Office Minister said: “Rural communities across the country are being forced to put up with unacceptable levels of crime.

“From theft to poaching to hare coursing, far too many offences go unpunished on Labour’s watch and far too many people are left to fend for themselves.

“The Conservatives are on the side of rural people. That is why we will provide 1000 dedicated rural police officers, tackle the secondary markets where stolen goods are sold, prevent and remove illegal traveller encampments, and ramp up punishments for fly tipping.”

“We are the only party with the plan and the backbone to clamp down on rural crime.”

Mrs Badenoch also announced that any new Conservative government would hike the punishments for those who dump waste illegally.

Analysis seen by the Sunday Express suggests only 3.6% of burglaries in the most rural areas lead to a charge, compared to 8.7% in the most urban.

Recent exchanges in the House of Commons even saw ministers reveal they did not keep records of how many rural crimes led to a prosecution.

Speaking last March, the then Attorney General said the Crown Prosecution Service “does not hold any central record” of prosecutions for crimes recorded in either rural or urban areas.

Welcoming the announcement the Conservative MP and former Minister Alan Mak said his party was “the party of rural and coastal Britain”.

He added: “Our plan to tackle rural crime, flytipping and traveller encampments shows we are on the side of law-abiding residents that Labour have ignored.”

Previous Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, promised to release a government-backed rural crime strategy in April of 2024.

Critics point out that one has yet to be published – despite the former Home Secretary who backed the pledge, Yvette Cooper, still serving in Andy Burnham’s Cabinet.

Last year, the Home Office announced additional funding to help tackle rural crime, amounting to £800,000.

Then serving as Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, said “for too long, rural crime has gone unpunished.”

They pledged to clamp down on “organised crime, fly-tipping and farm theft blight our countryside.”

A Labour Spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch’s Tories decimated police numbers, starving rural communities of the community officers needed to fight crime. The Tories can’t pretend to suddenly care about rural Britain after 14 years of neglect.

“Labour has put more community police back on the beat, we’re introducing tough new laws to crack down on equipment theft, and we’ve given new powers to police to help them track down stolen property. Labour will always back our rural communities that are the backbone of Britain.

“With Andy Burnham’s leadership, the Labour Government is running towards the problems the Tories ignored, restoring hope and showing every part of Britain that politics can do better.”