Stamp duty, tractor tax and doctors’ strikes: Key takeaways from Badenoch’s Tory conference speech
Kemi Badenoch cemented her position as Tory leader with a policy-laden Tory conference speech aimed at silencing her critics.
Addressing a packed house at the Manchester Convention Centre, Ms Badenoch said the Labor Government had “made a mess” and the Conservatives had laid out plans for how to fix it.
Independent It looks at what policies Ms Badenoch promised party members in her headline address.
stamp duty
The biggest headline-grabber in MS Badenoch’s speech was his vow to introduce an Ax stamp tax if the Conservatives win the next general election.
Figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies show the bed would cost around £4.5bn as the tax stands, but conservatives have offered a “cautious” estimate it will cost £9bn by the end of the decade.
The party claimed it was a £47bn Savings Pot Shadow Ministers claimed consisted of welfare cuts, shrinking the civil service and further reducing the country’s foreign aid budget.
In his speech, Badenoch said: “The next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on your home. It will go away.
“We will help make the dream of home ownership come true for millions.”
Scrapping labor tax hikes
Ms Badenoch also promised to reverse a series of labor tax victories that the Conservatives had challenged in the campaign.
Most notable was the government’s promise to roll back changes to the inheritance tax on family farms, the so-called tractor tax.
But also for the chop under a Tory government is Labour’s value of VAT on private school fees, which Ms Badenoch said was “a justifiable tax on education”.
These would be financed from the £47 billion savings pot.
But conspicuously absent from the list of tax rises the Tories would reverse was Rachel Reeves’ employer national insurance increase, which would cost tens of billions of pounds despite the Conservatives linking it to job losses and sluggish economic growth.
employment rights
Among the riskier promises in Ms Badenoch’s speech was a promise to roll back Angela Rayner’s workers’ rights reforms.
The policy package would give workers greater safety and better protections at work, but conservatives argue they would attract employers and stunt economic growth.
“We will reverse the appalling measures for unions in Angela Rayner’s union-written unemployment bill… will red tape firms, keep businesses £5bn and leave Angela Rayner legally sacked,” Badenoch said.
It would take years for his workers’ rights package to be due in the next general election, and now he would vow to make a risky move.
Banning doctors’ strikes
Another eye-catching policy was the Tory leader’s plan to ban doctors from going on strike.
Ms Badenoch linked industrial action in the NHS to higher waiting lists and promised to destroy unions if the Conservatives were elected. The unions were not happy.
British Medical Association (BMA) Council Vice President Dr. Emma Runswick said: “Doctors should have the right to strike, just like everyone else. Banning strikes is anti-democratic and contradicts the very concept of a free British society. When they sound the alarm about NHS crises it will make matters worse.”
“Patients are having operations or appointments postponed every day in the NHS, due to understaffing and lack of beds; valued staff contribute to this. Banning doctors from expressing their concerns through legitimate industrial action only devalues them further.”
Golden Economic Rule
The speech was underpinned by what Ms. Badenoch calls the “Golden Economic Rule.” He promised new doctrine for Tory tax and spending to distance the party from the legacy of Liz Truss, who led the party into financial chaos in 49 days as Prime Minister.
Outlining the £47bn savings already identified by the opposition, the Conservatives said they would spend half of all the money they returned to tax cuts, with the other half paying the deficit.
“This is the conservative way – responsibility today, opportunity tomorrow,” he added.
