Badenoch draws battle lines to take on Labour for ‘soul of the nation’

Kemi Badenoch has drawn her battle lines with Labour, telling Tories they are in a “fight for the soul of the nation” as she tries to win back voters with her party languishing in the polls.

In her Conservative Party conference speech in Birmingham on Wednesday Ms Badenoch will attempt to create a sense of urgency as she highlights the gulf between Labour and Tory policies, warning “there is a fight coming in British politics” not seen for 50 years.

The Tory leader has been emboldened by new prime minister Andy Burnham tacking to the left in his Labour Party speech and now feels that there is a “battle of ideas” as her speech brings a culmination to a week where the party has promised tax cuts, deregulation and the creation of a £10bn “Iron Dome” missile defence system.

But after a poorly attended conference which has failed to light any spark, and with the latest YouGov polling put the Tories in third place and seven points behind Labour, Ms Badenoch hopes a tub thumping speech will rally her beleaguered party.

The urgency comes as the Tory hierarchy expect Mr Burnham to call an election as early as May next year.

In her speech, Badenoch is expected to say: “Conference, there is a fight coming in British politics. A fight that we have not seen in this country for more than half a century.

“It will be a battle for the soul of this nation. A battle of ideas. A battle that goes to the very core of who we are and what kind of country we want to be.”

With senior Tories comparing the moment to 50 years ago when Margaret Thatcher took power during a failing Labour government, Ms Badenoch will hark back to the reforms of the 1980s, comparing them to those of Mr Burnham, who she says plans to take Britain back to the 1970s.

She will say: “On one side we have a government that wants to wind back the clock to failed ideas of the past. They believe economic growth is created by politicians. They think government knows best.

“They think that your income, your pension and your savings are theirs to take and then hand out as they see fit. They claim that what they are doing is compassionate but we know that these ideas will make every single person in this country poorer.”

She warned: “Your taxes will be higher. Your bills will go up. You will find it harder and harder to make ends meet.”

And mocking Mr Burnham’s campaigning style of social media videos, she will add: “Just because these ideas are delivered on TikTok doesn’t make them any less dangerous than they have always been.”

Last year she announced the Tories would slash welfare by billions and abolish stamp duty for buying a home. This year she is looking at reducing inheritance tax and abolishing public bodies such as Natural England.

She will also claim that she will make work pay, with measures such as ending the ban on receiving free child care for parents earning £100,000 or more.

She will say: “On the other side of the battle is us. A renewed Conservative Party fighting again for the belief that what people earn belongs to them, not government.

“That the collective wisdom of people in our country is greater than the central planning of bureaucrats and politicians. That spending money we don’t have on things we can’t afford is not kind, it is reckless.

“This is a critical moment. The world is becoming more dangerous. Western economies are becoming more fragile. We are running out of money and running out of time to put it right.”

She will add: “Conference, the fundamental problem we have right now is that our country is running out of money. Almost everything else flows from this.

“Our national debt currently stands at nearly £3 trillion and we are adding more than £100 billion every year. Last year, four in every five pounds borrowed by the Government was spent on debt interest alone.

“That’s like taking out a second mortgage just to pay the interest on your first mortgage. This is crazy.”

On Tuesday, Ms Badenoch also issued a stark warning to wavering Tory MPs, insisting that anyone who defects to Reform UK will not be allowed back into her party.

While the Tory leader said she wants “Reform voters to come back to us”, she insisted that MPs “who left are party… are people who just cause problems”.

She made the remarks on day three of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, where the party has sought to win back voters they lost at the last election.

Speaking to GB News, Mrs Badenoch said: "I want Reform voters to come back to us. The people in Reform as politicians, the MPs, especially the ones who left our party, they are people who just cause problems.

“Their conference… it was overshadowed by an exposé and scandals. You know, they deny it, but they keep having these problems.

"Their leader in Wales had to step down after being arrested. The one before him is in prison for taking bribes from Russia. I don't want to do a deal with those types of people. I want Reform voters to come back to us, back to the Conservative Party.”

Pressed on whether she would want Reform MPs to return to the Tories, she said: “No.”

Mrs Badenoch added: "No, many of them... They're the ones who cause the problems in the first place, and now they want to pretend they had nothing to do with it.”

The Conservative Party leader also said she would rather fight two general elections in quick succession than form a coalition with Nigel Farage’s party in the event of a hung parliament.

She said party members at their annual conference felt “happy because we know who we are”, despite remaining third in opinion polls behind Labour and Reform.

Asked by the BBC if her party’s happy mood meant it was collectively in denial, the Tory leader said: “We are feeling chipper because we are going back to first principles.”