Kemi Badenoch Declares Herself a 'Classic Old-School Conservative' in Opening Conference Speech
Badenoch says the Conservatives will cut taxes, add 50,000 prison places and end the childcare cliff edge as she seeks a reset after the 2024 defeat.
- On Sunday, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch opened the annual conference in Birmingham, releasing "The Right Way" document outlining her "classic old school Conservative" approach to governance and policy.
- Badenoch argued the previous Conservative government failed by not knowing its core principles; she aims to reverse structural changes by emphasizing that "business, not government, creates growth."
- The Conservatives pledged to end the childcare "cliff edge" for parents earning more than £100,000 and promised 50,000 new prison places by slashing the overseas aid budget to £1bn a year.
- Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson criticized the plans, saying the Tory Party "is stuck in the past and remains completely out of touch," while Liberal Democrats Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper dismissed them as "fantasy-land."
- Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith proposed scrapping extended producer responsibility to save businesses £1.5bn, emphasizing that tax simplification will be a central mission for the Conservatives going forward.
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The Tories love Kemi – but who loves them?
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 7: Kemi Badenoch leader of the Conservative Party delivers a speech to the Conservative Conference on October 7, 2026 in Birmingham, England. The Conservative Party opened its annual conference under the slogan "Stronger economy, stronger country," establishing economic policy as its primary platform to challenge Prime Minister Andy Burnham's Labour government and Reform UK. (Photo by Nicola Tree/Getty Images)
El Periódico
The leader of the British opposition, Kemi Badenoch, has condensed on Wednesday the most precise synthesis about the current dichotomy in a United Kingdom that, after adding its fifth prime minister this summer in four years, is plunged into "a battle of ideas" that strongly questions "what kind of country it wants to be." At the close of the annual conservative convention, Badenoch has claimed his creed of less state interventionism, reduced fi…
Badenoch to offer tax cuts as Tories pitch 'credible alternative' to Burnham's Labour
Expectations are growing that Kemi Badenoch will announce “multiple” tax cuts in her flagship speech at the Conservative Party conference, with announcements on national insurance and inheritance tax set to take centre stage. The Tory leader is looking to boost her support base among Britain’s middle classes as she warned that an early election would [...]
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