Suella Braverman said it was "unacceptable" crimes such as shoplifting, criminal damage and phone or car theft have been treated as "less important".

Forces have committed to follow all "reasonable lines of enquiry" in an effort to improve investigations and drive down crime rates.

It follows a previous commitment for forces to attend every home burglary in a new set of standards announced last year.

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Speaking to Sky News, Ms Braverman was challenged over whether there would be any new resources for police officers to deal with the initiative.

The home secretary claimed 20,000 new officers have been recruited - but it was pointed out that this was only after a similar number of police staff was cut under previous Conservative governments.

Ms Braverman said it was "wrong" to say there were only 3,000 new officers - despite her own department's figures showing that there are 149,000 officers currently, compared to 146,000 in 2010.

"We've got a record number of police officers ever in the history of policing," the home secretary said.

'Undoubtedly weakened in every way'

The standards setting body published guidance for officers in England and Wales to consider all potential evidence - such as footage from CCTV, doorbells and dashcams, as well as phone tracking - if it could lead to a suspect or stolen property.

The College of Policing said the public will therefore know what they can expect from police when they report a crime such as burglary or theft.

The commitment, agreed by the Home Office, the National Police Chiefs' Council and College of Policing, comes as part of a "crime week" of policy announcements planned by the government.

Writing to police chiefs, Ms Braverman and her deputy - policing minister Chris Philp - highlighted that new guidance was being provided to officers on how to solve burglaries. This included telling officers it was important to attend a crime scene within an hour.

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats earlier this year show that in 2022/23, 76.8% of burglaries - a total of 213,279 cases - in England and Wales were closed without a suspect being identified.

Martyn Underhill, a former detective chief inspector and police and crime commissioner, told Sky News that the police had been "undoubtedly weakened in every way" by Conservative governments, saying that "austerity cuts" lead to lost experience - noting that he did not consider himself experienced until he worked for ten years as an officer.

Labour has branded the announcements a "staggering admission of 13 years of Tory failure on policing and crime".

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'Confidence in policing damanged'

Announcing her plan, Ms Braverman said: "The police have made progress in preventing crime across the country with neighbourhood offences like burglary, robbery and vehicle theft down by 51% since 2010.

"Despite this success, since I became home secretary I've heard too many accounts from victims where police simply haven't acted on helpful leads because crimes such as phone and car thefts are seen as less important - that's unacceptable. It has damaged people's confidence in policing.

"Criminals must have no place to hide. The police's commitment today is a huge step forward towards delivering the victim-focused, common-sense policing the public deserve."

'Following every reasonable line of inquiry'

Speaking to Sky News, Ms Braverman said: "What this is about, it's about things like robbery.

"It's about phone theft, it's about watch theft, it's about muggings, it's about vehicle theft, it's about street level drug use and drug dealing.

"It's ensuring and instilling confidence in the public that the police will follow up when they see leads, and they have actionable evidence.

"So if a victim of crime comes forward and has some evidence that their car was being resold online, if a victim of crime has CCTV footage of a burglary being committed or a robbery taking place, if they can provide information from a find my phone tracking app or GPS data, if there's a sight or smell of cannabis on the street, those kinds of leads - those evidential leads - will be sufficient now for the police to take action and to follow those up.

"That's modelled on a successful and pioneering approach taken in Greater Manchester Police.

"We're following every reasonable line of inquiry, working to increase the charged rate, increase outcomes for victims and increase victim confidence"

She told the Telegraph that "there is no such thing as a trivial crime".

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'13 years of Tory failure'

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "This is a staggering admission of 13 years of Tory failure on policing and crime.

"Pursuing reasonable leads like CCTV is what the police should be doing, but - because of abysmal Tory management - over 90% of crimes go unsolved, the proportion of crimes prosecuted has dropped by more than two thirds and more criminals are getting off."