KEMI BADENOCH: This country deserves a leader who doesn't treat economics like showbiz

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Labour promised voters 'change' – but still don't know how they'll pay for it. Now Nigel Farage is trying the same trick.
In their first ten months, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have hiked taxes on jobs, farms and family businesses, and snatched winter fuel support from vulnerable pensioners. All this despite promising not to raise taxes on working people.
And guess what? It's not working.
Every Labour government has left unemployment higher than when it took office. Sure enough, unemployment is up 10 per cent since last July and inflation is steadily rising. Starmer made big promises that he couldn't deliver, now we're all paying the price.
This week, Reform's leader is pledging tax breaks and welfare giveaways like it's Christmas, but his sums aren't adding up. Jeremy Corbyn 's 'magic money tree' is back, and this time it has a Reform UK sticker on it.
It's easy in opposition to promise voters everything they want, and provide only vague ideas as to how to pay for it. Keir Starmer did it and is getting found out. Now Nigel Farage is doing it.
I won't. I won't make empty promises to chase popularity.
Our most successful leader – Lady Thatcher – once said: 'The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.'
After years of economic shocks – Covid, war, inflation – Britain can't afford the fantasy economics of Starmer and Farage. We need a proper plan for economic growth, underpinned by our principles.
A plan built around robust private enterprise – because Conservatives understand that it's not government that creates growth, it's business.
Conservatives believe in lower taxes – not just as a slogan, but as a moral choice. We get that your money belongs to you, and every penny the Government takes should be justified. We believe that a smaller, smarter state allows individuals and communities to flourish.
Working families have been hit hard by the cost of living. We risk making the current environment of low-pay and precarious work permanent, unless we find a sustainable way to allow private enterprise and jobs to flourish. People who have put in the hard graft to support their families should be able to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
Working from January to June just to pay the Government is not an acceptable situation.
Conservatives reject the mindset that taking money from a population and giving it back to them is generous, while letting them keep it in the first place is selfish. With an ageing population, the tax burden is just going to keep increasing.
Only by taking some difficult decisions, while making the case for why lower taxes and less spending are necessary, can we hope to live in a Britain where society is bigger, and government smaller.
I saw how previous Conservative governments lost sight of these principles and learned a hard lesson about trying to have our cake and eat it.
It's why I am also clear that under my leadership, if the Conservatives are to keep taxes low, we must cut waste and end the inherent unfairness where some work ever harder for smaller rewards – to pay for others' benefits.
We're now the only major political party prepared to take a serious look at the welfare state. Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, and welfare as a safety net rather than as a way of life.
This week we have seen Labour and Reform in a race to the bottom to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Apparently, Starmer and Farage now believe in getting taxpayers – many of whom are struggling to raise their own children or choosing not to have them in the first place – to fund unlimited child support for others.
That's not fair, it's not sustainable and it's not even compassionate. Welfare traps people, builds dependency and it drives up costs for everyone.
While Labour and Reform are content to make promises they can't keep, I won't. The Conservatives are going to be the party of sound money and fiscal responsibility once again.
Keir Starmer can't tell you what he stands for. Nigel Farage can't tell you how he'll pay for anything. I can tell you this: I believe in lower taxes, personal responsibility – and a leaner, better-run state.
Britain deserves party leaders who don't treat economics like a branch of showbiz, an announcement for a nice headline and forget about the deficit.
The Conservatives are now the only party of sound money. It's not an easy position to hold in the age of instant gratification, but it's the right one if we want our children to inherit anything except our debts.