Kemi's family home pledge: Tories promise NO stamp duty when you buy your house, NO mansion tax when you're living in it and NO inheritance tax when the time comes to pass it on

Kemi Badenoch vowed to protect the family home from Labour as she electrified the Conservative Party on Wednesday.

Signalling a return to the Tories' traditional focus on lower taxes and home ownership, the party leader pledged to scrap inheritance tax on main residences passed down the generations.

She promised to reverse the rise in the number of middle-class families hit by death duties, telling the party conference a Conservative government would exempt the family home from the levy, regardless of its value.

Couples will also be able to pass on a further £1million in assets tax-free, cutting the number who will ever pay inheritance tax by more than half. The £6billion pledge will be funded by cuts to the welfare budget.

It comes after last year's conference-topping promise to scrap stamp duty and a new pledge to ditch Labour's mansion tax.

Mrs Badenoch said the plans were a reminder that the Tories 'are and always have been the party of home ownership', adding that those who 'work hard and save should be rewarded for that effort'.

'This is my guarantee: no stamp duty when you buy your home; no mansion tax when you live in your home; and no inheritance tax on your home when you pass it to your children or grandchildren,' she said to cheers from the faithful gathered in Birmingham.

She added: 'The Labour Party think it is selfish to pass on what you have earned to your children. We don't.'

Kemi Badenoch vowed to protect the family home from Labour policy on Wednesday during a passionate speech in Birmingham

Mrs Badenoch was speaking on the final day of the Conservative Party Conference (the Tory leader is pictured with her husband)

The focus on protecting the family home stands in contrast to Labour, which has extended a freeze on inheritance tax thresholds to 2031, dragging more estates into the net by stealth.

Labour is also imposing a 'mansion tax' on valuable homes, with ministers considering cutting the threshold from £2million to £1.5million before it has even been introduced.

The party has also unveiled controversial plans to allow councils to seize private homes left unoccupied.

Tory strategists hope the tax-cutting plans, combined with tough new policies on law and order, welfare and defence will help win back voters lost to Reform and the Liberal Democrats. They believe Andy Burnham is preparing to hold a snap election as soon as the spring of next year.

Mrs Badenoch warned her party's conference to prepare for a 'battle for the soul of this nation' of a type not seen since Margaret Thatcher took on Labour in the 1970s. In an impassioned speech lasting more than an hour, the Tory leader:

Made a direct appeal to Reform voters, saying: 'Many of them are our people. We let them down and we want them to come back home';

Declared the party was ready to fight and win an election, whenever it is called;

• Said Tory plans to build 50,000 extra prison places would allow the party to 'introduce tougher minimum sentences for the worst crimes';

• Confirmed her commitment to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence, saying; 'The era of peace is over. If we want peace, we must prepare for war';

• Branded Mr Burnham a 'Paddington Bear PM' who cannot protect Britain and who wants to 'turn the clock back to the 1970s';

• Told the PM to 'stop faffing around' and approve a third runway at Heathrow;

• Confirmed that a Tory government will slash £36billion from the benefits bill. In a highly personal section of her speech, Mrs Badenoch also rounded on Reform politicians who have suggested in recent days that only white people can be truly English.

'I don't want to live in a country run by people who threaten journalists, call veterans traitors and debate whether my mixed-race children are English,' she said.

'I don't want to explain to my son when we're watching our brilliant England team play football that some people don't think our black players are English.'

She added: 'We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are.'

Tory strategists have been examining options for cutting inheritance tax for months, including abolishing the hated death duty.

The focus on protecting the family home stands in contrast to Labour, which has extended a freeze on inheritance tax thresholds to 2031 (Labour leader Andy Burnham is pictured on Downing Street last month)

Mrs Badenoch said she hoped to scrap it eventually, but said funds were also needed to pay for Tory plans to build new prisons and create a 'Britannia Shield' missile defence system.

Instead, her inheritance tax reforms will focus on keeping the family home out of the clutches of the taxman.

She said a levy originally designed to hit the 'super-wealthy' had become a 'tax on ordinary middle-class families in every corner of our country' after years of frozen thresholds. 

The proportion of deaths attracting inheritance tax is on course to rise from 4 per cent in recent years to 9.5 per cent by 2030. But the proportion of families in line to be hit by the tax is expected to hit 16.5 per cent by the end of the decade. 

The rise is driven by house price growth over many years. Under current rules, individuals can leave £325,000 in assets tax-free, with a further £175,000 if the family home is involved. Couples can leave a total of £1million before the taxman takes a slice.

The Conservative plans will see the family home exempted completely. Individuals will also be able to leave a further £500,000 in assets tax-free, allowing couples to leave £1million on top of the family home.

Mrs Badenoch said: 'We understand why putting roots down and having a stake in society matters.

'Our homes are where we watch our children take their first steps. They are where we gather every Christmas to put up the same decorations. Passing on your home to your family is one of the most human instincts of all. So (we) will legislate so nobody will ever pay inheritance tax on their family home.'

Mrs Badenoch savaged Labour's approach, saying the party had locked Britain into a 'tax doom loop', in which the Chancellor returned for more taxes every year to make up for lost growth caused by businesses being 'choked by taxes'.

She said Labour was 'addicted to welfare', accusing Mr Burnham of 'drowning our country in debt, choking our economy with taxes and stifling every innovation with regulation'.

• QUENTIN LETTS: Kemi's a mother on a mission. Tangle with her at your peril! 
• DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A triumphant Tory conference...and Kemi's battle cry on homes and race
• Cutting property taxes speaks to something deeply ingrained in our psyche - and will boost the economy too: DANIEL HANNAN 
• READ MORE: Don't tell me that I am not British: Mrs Badenoch gives Reform both barrels for 'trying to take the UK backwards'
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