Cornwall currently has no Conservative MPs

He said there was "one set of planning laws for most of us" and a "completely different set" for a small group of travellers who abused the system.

Mr Howard is on a day-long visit to the duchy on Thursday which currently has no Conservative MPs.

It is part of a two-day visit to the region, he will spend Friday in Devon.

Increasingly angry

Speaking to reporters on a hilltop about a mile from a legal travellers' site in Bugle, near St Austell, he pledged to ensure planning laws were "enforced consistently".

He said: "Most travellers live in a law-abiding way, with perfectly harmonious relations with the local community."

But he added that many people were increasingly angry at apparent abuses of the planning system by travellers.

The Tory leader said the problem was being made worse by "Tony Blair's Human Rights Act and John Prescott's planning guidance".

Asked whether he was chasing headlines by focusing on travellers, he replied: "What I am doing is addressing local issues which are of concern to local people."

The new policy includes plans to review the Human Rights Act and to introduce new compulsory purchase powers where land might be used by travellers in an unlawful way.

He also pledged that the Conservatives, if elected, would produce a Government Bill to repeal the hunting ban and give MPs a free vote on it.

First trip

Mr Howard is spending the day with Cornwall's five prospective parliamentary candidates on his first trip to the county as party leader.

He is due to meet Ashley Crossley, the prospective Tory MP for Labour-held Falmouth and Camborne, to discuss policing with local officers in Falmouth.

In September the Conservative leader threw his support behind Mr Crossley, a barrister from London, when local party officials attempted to have him deselected as candidate.

Local members voted overwhelmingly to retain Mr Crossley, who is gay, following a row clouded with allegations of homophobia.