This year’s conference season saw one of the clearest ideological divides in British politics for some time. The prime minister delivered a speech that many on the left had long wanted to hear, making the case for a more active and interventionist state. In Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch offered an equally unapologetic defence of Thatcherism.
The Conservative leader’s speech gave a sense that the party is finally off life support and up for the fight, with a renewed appeal to the shires through promises of tax cuts that will undoubtedly energise the Tory core vote. At the same time, Badenoch sought to challenge Reform UK on questions of values and integrity. Clearly adored by her party members, she remains behind in the polls and continues to fight for attention from the country.
More significant than any individual announcement was the moral case set out in The Right Way, Badenoch’s conference policy document, and echoed throughout her speech. Almost every policy proposal was rooted in a belief in personal responsibility and the value of individual endeavour. Badenoch argued that individual effort is not only the source of economic prosperity but also of human fulfilment and opportunity. In that sense, her speech was about more than policy. It was a battle of ideas, with Badenoch presenting conservatism as a competing vision ‘for the soul of the country’.
The headline-grabbing policy announcement was Badenoch’s pledge to abolish inheritance tax on family homes and raise the amount an individual can pass on tax-free to £500,000. Under the proposals, a couple would be able to leave their main residence to direct descendants free from inheritance tax, alongside a further £1 million of assets to other beneficiaries. Long criticised by many on the right as Britain’s least fair tax, inheritance tax is often portrayed as a form of double taxation, applying to assets accumulated from income that has already been taxed.
Badenoch also identified the eventual abolition of inheritance tax as a long-term ambition. Critics argue, however, that the benefits would be concentrated among the wealthiest and not ‘ordinary’ families. The Institute for Fiscal studies estimated that the wealthiest 1% of estates, worth £2.1 million or more, would receive around half of the gains from full abolition. Some also worry that the proposal could encourage older homeowners to remain in larger properties, limiting the availability of family-sized homes.
The Leader of the Opposition also argued that too many people are being written off by a welfare system that discourages work. Her reforms would remove access to out-of-work benefits immediately after school or university, introduce ‘back to work’ cards for long-term claimants, and require those able to work to engage with employment programmes. Badenoch aims to couple these welfare reforms with plans to halve the jobs tax for under-25s and repeal Labour’s Employment Rights Act.
Badenoch said that cutting the welfare bill would help fund higher defence spending, something that was notably absent from Burnham’s conference speech. Central to this was a £10 billion commitment to build ‘Britannia Shield’, an integrated UK air and missile defence network. The proposal would initially focus on protecting critical national infrastructure and military bases before being expanded to cover the UK mainland and British territories overseas. However, with the programme expected to be delivered over ten years, it represents a long-term ambition rather than a rapid build-out.
The proposal is more ambitious than the government’s current plans, having previously identified missile defence as a priority while allocating less than £800 million to the capability over four years. This comes despite a recent commons Defence Committee report warning that the UK has ‘next to nothing’ in place when it comes to missile defence, particularly against the growing threat posed by drones.
Despite the non-nonsense tone of Badenoch’s speech and the long list of policy commitments unveiled at conference, all of it ultimately depends on the Conservatives returning to power. With Badenoch ruling out an electoral pact with Reform UK and the party still polling below its performance at the 2024 general election, the central question remains whether voters are willing to give the Conservatives another hearing after fourteen years in government.
Steve Brine, GK’s Strategic Adviser and former health minister said: ‘What struck me was the attempt to give the Conservatives a clearer organising argument: that Britain’s problems stem from weak growth and an overextended state, and that the answer is greater economic freedom, lower taxes and firmer choices about public spending. The speech also sought to present Kemi as someone prepared to make the case for a distinct Conservative identity and one that her party feels wholly comfortable with. In that, the two main parties are in lock-step. The test will be whether that argument can be turned into a credible and coherent programme for government.’
Robert Halfon, GK’s Strategic Adviser and former education minister said: ‘Kemi Badenoch leaves conference with her leadership secure and her party more united than it has been for years. The direction is clear: firmly Conservative, and clearly distinct from Reform. Skills are part of that offer. Badenoch put apprenticeships in her leader’s speech, and the plan to move money from poor-value degrees into apprenticeships gives the Education team a concrete policy to drive forward. Employers will now want to see it costed and funded.’
