Tories to slash jobs tax to get young back into work - with Kemi offering a new 'rescue package'

Published: 00:00 BST, 7 October 2026 | Updated: 00:00 BST, 7 October 2026

Kemi Badenoch will offer a new 'rescue package' for jobless youngsters today.

The Conservative leader will urge her party to focus on saving the economy from Labour by unveiling measures aimed at reversing the slide in entry-level jobs.

These will include a pledge to halve the National Insurance contributions paid by firms employing workers aged under 25.

She is also poised to unveil cuts to inheritance tax as she prepares for an election as soon as next year.

Mrs Badenoch will warn that Britain faces 'a battle for the soul of this nation' on a scale not seen since Margaret Thatcher took on Labour in the 1970s.

She will say the country once again faces a Left-wing Labour government that believes economic growth is 'created by politicians' and a Prime Minister who wants to 'wind back the clock to failed ideas of the past'.

She will say: '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.'

Kemi Badenoch will urge her party to focus on saving the economy from Labour by unveiling measures aimed at reversing the slide in entry-level jobs

Mrs Badenoch will warn that 'everything' now depends on tackling a crisis in the public finances that has left Britain in the 'crazy' situation of borrowing tens of billions of pounds a year to pay the interest on a national debt approaching £3trillion.

The Tory leader will also urge her party to make economic growth 'the central organising principle' of the next government. 

She will tell Tory delegates in Birmingham: 'We are running out of money and running out of time to put it right.' 

Tory sources last night said the party is gearing up for an election in the first half of next year, despite Andy Burnham's denials that he is plotting a snap poll.

The move to slash taxes on employing young workers will be accompanied by a major push to get young people off benefits, including barring them from going straight on the dole from school and preventing people with mild mental health issues from claiming sickness payments. 

Mrs Badenoch said a dose of 'tough love' was needed to reverse a situation which has left more than a million young people not earning or learning.

But she said employers also needed encouragement to take on young people after being battered by higher taxes and new regulations.

Employers have blamed a triple whammy of changes under Labour for making it less attractive to employ young people.

These include hikes in the youth minimum wage, a wave of new employment rights and increases in National Insurance.

Under the new Tory plans, employer NI for workers aged 21 to 24 will be halved from 15 per cent to just 7.5 per cent. 

This would allow businesses to keep an average of £1,545 for every young worker, making them more attractive to hire.

The move will cost £2.3billion a year and will be funded by cuts from existing spending as part of a new 'Conservative Savings Plan' to be published today.

Mrs Badenoch is also expected to focus heavily on the need to cut Britain's bloated benefits bill today.

Last night she told GB News: 'If we run out of money, none of us are going to have anything.

'The best welfare is a well-paying job. That means a lot of tough love.'