Kemi Badenoch has pledged to cut inheritance tax and place economic growth at the centre of her vision for government, positioning the Conservatives as the "no-nonsense" party to challenge Andy Burnham's Labour.
The Tory leader declared that the next general election will be a "battle for the soul of the nation", promising the party would concentrate on allowing people to "keep more of what they earn" should it return to office.
Inheritance tax pledge
Addressing the Conservative annual conference in Birmingham, she committed to scrapping death duties on all "family homes" and permitting couples to pass on an additional £1 million free of tax.
The proposal would result in the number of families liable for inheritance tax dropping by more than half, Mrs Badenoch said, as she accused Labour of being "addicted to welfare" and treating income and savings as "theirs to take and hand out."
"The Labour Party think it is selfish to pass on what you have earned to your children. We don't," she said.
Rebuilding after 2024 defeat
As she strives to rebuild the Tories' standing in the wake of their crushing 2024 electoral defeat, she insisted she was "not someone who gets written off" and "neither is the Conservative Party".
"We are going to win, not for ourselves, but for our country. For every hard-working person out there, for everyone who wants to see common sense restored, for everyone who wants to see Britain working again," she said.
"We are going to win for everyone who wants to see our great country united."
The Conservatives have placed the economy at the forefront of their conference agenda this autumn, shifting away from the so-called "culture wars" that characterised previous gatherings.
Welfare and growth strategy
Mrs Badenoch stated the party, which trails Labour and sits narrowly behind Reform UK in opinion polls, would embrace a "tough love" strategy to reduce the benefits bill and encourage more young people into employment.
"We need to put the fair back in welfare," she said. "It is morally wrong to tell people suffering bouts of mild anxiety that they are disabled and cannot work."
Taking aim at the Burnham Government, she stated: "It's the same old high tax, high spend Labour. No common sense. Addicted to welfare. Drowning our country in debt. Choking our economy with taxes."
Revitalising the economy would serve as the "central organising principle" of a future Conservative government, she declared.
Reform UK stance and new policies
Asserting the party stood united following an "export boom of drama queens" who have switched allegiance to Reform UK, she once more dismissed forming an alliance with Nigel Farage's party to prevent dividing the right-wing vote at the next election.
Mrs Badenoch received a standing ovation from Tory politicians and delegates assembled in the main hall as she suggested Reform UK would drag the country "backwards", declaring: "To those who say 'unite the right', we are not uniting with that."
Alongside pledging to reduce the rate of inheritance tax, the Conservatives have utilised the conference to unveil a series of fresh policy commitments including:
- Halving the rate of employer national insurance on earnings for people aged between 21 to 24.
- Blocking school leavers from moving straight onto out-of-work benefits in what they describe as a "tough love" approach to boost youth employment.
- Scrapping the so-called "mansion tax" on properties in England with a value higher than £2 million due to come into effect in 2028.
- Cutting red tape and abolishing arms-length bodies including Natural England in a bid to speed up development and reduce the cost of new homes for buyers.
- Investing £10 billion over 10 years in a new "Britannia Shield", a defence system which would seek to protect Britain and its overseas bases from drone and missile attacks.
Political rivals have accused the Conservatives of playing "fantasy economics" by understating the cost of their plans, which the Tories insist are fully funded.
Doubts also remain over the Tories' long-term commitment to the triple lock, which Prime Minister Mr Burnham has pledged to adjust in order to help fund a new national care service.
Mrs Badenoch has stated that current Conservative policy is to retain the state pension guarantee, but acknowledged it would be "difficult" to commit to reinstating the policy should Labour change or scrap it.
