A year ago on Thursday, the beleaguered Tory leader stepped out into Downing Street, under the pouring rain, and telling the country he had a plan – asking them to give him another chance to deliver it
Kemi Badenoch has been accused of “running away” from her party’s record in the year since Rishi Sunak called the election.
A year ago on Thursday, the beleaguered Tory leader stepped out into Downing Street, under the pouring rain, and telling the country he had a plan – asking them to give him another chance to deliver it.
But marking the anniversary, Labour Chair Ellie Reeves told the Mirror he had left behind a “toxic Tory legacy” – and accused his successor, Kemi Badenoch of trying to hide from it.
“The Tory government which Kemi Badenoch was part of knew exactly what they were running away from,” she said.
“This toxic Tory legacy left our country in a dire state, with public services at breaking point and hardworking people across Britain paying the price.”
Labour pointed to a “litany of failures” by the previous government, including the frequently cited “£22 billion black hole” in day-to-day spending, prisons at 99% capacity and NHS waiting lists at record highs of 7.62 million.
On immigration – the focus of PM Keir Starmer ’s attention this week – the party accused the Conservatives of an “open border experiment”, and branded their Rwanda scheme a “gimmick”.
And on defence, they said the Tories had “hollowed out our armed forces, shrunk the Army to its smallest size since before the Napoleonic wars, wasted billions of pounds by mismanaging defence procurement, and allowed morale to fall to record lows. They failed British troops and British taxpayers.”
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Ms Reeves added: “This litany of failures alone shows why they should never be trusted with the keys to Number 10 again. Far from taking responsibility for their record in the months since, they’ve run further away from the truth and are relentlessly fighting amongst themselves and with Nigel Farage ’s Reform Party.
“Only our Labour Government can be trusted to clean up their mess and deliver the security working people deserve and the renewal our country needs through our Plan for Change.”