The arrests come during a general election campaign where Sunak is battling to overcome the centre-left Labour Party’s large lead in the polls.

“We have arrested four people in the grounds of the Prime Minister’s constituency home this afternoon,” North Yorkshire Police said in a statement.

“Our officers were with the four men within one minute of them entering the grounds,” it added.

The suspects, aged between 20 and 52 and from different parts of the country, were brought into police custody for questioning and investigations are ongoing, police said.

A video posted on X (formally known as Twitter) by the group Youth Demand shows a young man entering a property and defecating into what it says is a lake on Sunak’s property.

“We have so much to thank the Tories for,” a statement from the group said, from the polluted rivers to “crumbling schools” and “destruction of the NHS.”

This is not the first time that Sunak’s home has been targeted.

Last summer, Greenpeace activists covered it in oil-black sheets to protest against the Conservative government’s decision to grant new oil and gas licences.