Kemi Badenoch used her Tory conference speech to claim the Conservatives are the ones who can fix the key issues facing Britain. She’ll be furious to find out who’s really to blame
Kemi Badenoch has ranted about a string of problems her party caused while in power.
The Tory leader complained about the state of the economy, borders, the welfare bill – all of which were in dire straits when the Conservatives were kicked out. She whined: “A weak economy and weak borders mean steady decline. I reject that fate.”
In her major speech at the close of the Tory Party conference in Manchester, Mrs Badenoch bragged about how great the Tory Party is – and how it is “the only party that can meet the test of our generation”.
Devoted Tory supporters applauded her as she praised the “collective wisdom” of her MPs, peers and councillors.
The Mirror takes a look at some of Mrs Badenoch’s key offerings to Britain’s problems – and how those problems spiralled during the Tories 14 years in power (and when she was at the Cabinet table).
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Borders
Kemi Badenoch had a lot to say about border security, as she battles to win back voters from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
The Tory leader told delegates in Manchester: “Conference, people around the world are determined to lift their lives, and their children’s lives up to a standard that we have taken for granted.
“Some countries won’t be able to do this. And in those countries millions of people will decide that they want to come here instead.
“And if our borders are not secure, they will succeed. Especially, if our economy is addicted to migration. Of course, we want brilliant minds and great talents to come here.”
She made no reference to Boris Johnson’s decision to bring in looser rules, so that net migration into the UK hit a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023. Or that Rishi Sunak completely failed to stop the boats, despite repeatedly pledging to do so.
Economy
Kemi Badenoch used her speech to blame Rachel Reeves for breaking the economy and to suggest only the Tories can fix it. Unfortunately for her, the public hasn’t forgotten Liz Truss and the impact her disastrous mini Budget had on their mortgage payments.
The 49-day Prime Minister trashed the Tories’ reputation for keeping control of the economy with her plans for bonanza of tax cuts for the rich that triggered market chaos.
Even before that, growth was sluggish. And productivity has been stubbornly low. So it’s a bit rich for Ms Badenoch to lay all that Labour’s door.
As she issued gloomy warnings about the November Budget of Doom, she has forgotten about the Halloween horrors of Tory Chancellors past.
She told the conference: “The reason, why the Conservative Party is the only party in Britain who can be trusted to meet the test of our generation is that none of this works without a strong economy.”
So what were they doing in the 14 years they were in charge?
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Ms Badenoch complained in her speech that the tax burden is too high. But she neglected to mention that it rose to the highest point since 1948 in 2024 following the huge state expenditure during the pandemic. Rishi Sunak was PM at the time, of course.
Rachel Reeves faces a nightmare Budget this autumn, partly due to the mess the Tories left behind. Public services were starved of cash over years of austerity, and now require huge amounts of investment to stand still.
And Labour is working to rebuild trading ties and attract investment to Britain after the Tories alienated our largest trading partner, the EU, with Brexit wars.
So Ms Badenoch’s claim that the Tories are the only ones to be trusted with the economy should be taken with a big pinch of salt.
Welfare
Kemi Badenoch declared in her speech that only the Conservatives “understand” how the welfare system should work.
As part of Tory plans to cut £24billion from the welfare bill, she pledged to block non-British citizens from accessing benefits and to restrict benefits to those with the most severe mental health conditions, not anxiety or mild depression. And she vowed to restrict eligibility for motability cars, telling the conference they are “not for people with ADHD”.
“We will return it to its founding principle that support only goes to those that really need it,” she bellowed. “This should be common sense, but only the Conservatives understand this.”
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The DWP changes were announced earlier during the conference and are spearheaded by her Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride.
But let’s not forget who got us into this mess? For it was Mr Stride himself who personally oversaw the biggest increase in benefits spending in decades during his time as Work and Pensions Secretary.
DWP Social Security spending in Great Britain rose from £233.6billion in 2022/23 to £266.9bn in 2023/24, a £33.3bn rise. That is the biggest increase since the figures started being collated in 1996/97.
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