Labour leadership hopeful Ed Miliband has accused the coalition Government of "betraying" the countryside after scrapping policies to help low-paid workers.

Speaking to the Western Morning News during his summer holiday in Cornwall, the Shadow Energy Secretary denied the party was the "enemy" of rural areas despite fierce criticism during Labour's administration.

The Yorkshire MP, critical of the rise in VAT hitting the poor hardest, pointed to the abolition of the body that polices terms and conditions of farm workers as evidence of how the Con-Lib Government was failing rural areas.

He said: "We are the party of social justice and social justice is important in rural areas as it is urban areas.

"The abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) is going to massively undermine wages, conditions and the living standards of people working in the agricultural industry."

The board, which monitors accommodation, overtime and sick pay, was scrapped by the Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs as it was felt its remit was superseded by new legislation and bodies. The National Farmer's Union said the AWB is an "industrial relations relic".

A survivor of Margaret Thatcher's abolition of wages regulation in the 1980s, the AWB is relevant because farming remains characterised by low pay, dangerous work and seasonal employment, commentators say.

Mr Miliband, second favourite to be the next Labour leader behind his brother David, went on to dismiss suggestions Labour had surrendered in the Westcountry.

The party lies in third place in vast swathes of the region.

He said: "I don't see why we shouldn't leap from third place to first place because, frankly, I think people will be quite fed up with both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives come the next election."

Mr Miliband, who this week took questions from an 150-strong audience at Cornwall's Eden Project, said he opposed a proposed Commons reform that could lead to a single MP straddling the Devon and Cornwall border.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's plan to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 raises the prospect of Devon and Cornwall losing one seat.

In such a circumstance, one MP's constituency would cross the border between the counties, a controversial move given the strong identities of Devon and Cornwall.

"We will be opposing the gerrymandering of the constitution and I think that shows Labour speaking up for Cornwall," Mr Miliband said.