Badenoch opens Tory conference with 95-page "The Right Way" policy document

Mixed · 2Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch opened her party's annual conference in Birmingham on Sunday by publishing a document called "The Right Way". 1 2 Centre · 1In it she warned that "living standards have stalled" and that "regulation has accumulated faster than anyone can remove it"; she called it her "opening bid" and said "There will be more to come." 1 Centre · 1She said the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, had "appeared to rule out a general election before 2029", adding "We shall see", and that the country might need "even more radical measures" to put things right. 1

Right · 1Burnham has said he will not call a snap election; the Daily Mail reported that senior Tories believe Labour is preparing for an early poll and that the party launched a "reset" to be ready for an election as soon as next year, with one Tory source telling the paper "we have to be ready". 2 Mixed · 2Badenoch likened the document to The Right Approach, published in 1976 before Margaret Thatcher's 1979 victory, saying: "We governed for 18 years after that, because we started with the right foundations, and we are going to do the same again." 1 2 Mixed · 2The document calls for restoring domestic North Sea production and says net zero taxes, subsidies and system costs make up around 40% of the cost of electricity in Britain; according to the Mail, it also criticises the last Tory government over immigration, Net Zero and Brexit planning, being "harsher" on past Tory failings than on Labour. 1 2

Centre · 1On Monday shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith is due to unveil economic policies he calls "the most ambitious deregulation project in a generation". 1 Centre · 1Reported measures include scrapping the Future Homes Standard, replacing section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy with a single charge, abolishing Natural England and the Environment Agency and folding their functions into Defra, scrapping extended producer responsibility (which the party says would lift a £1.5 billion burden from businesses), and backing a third runway at Heathrow. 3 Mixed · 2The Mail said the planning reforms would cut £50,000 off the price of a new home; the Standard noted that party researchers cited a 2023 Birmingham City Council document putting the added cost of low-carbon features for a detached home at £30,789, offset by estimated energy bill savings of £2,715 a year. 2 3

Right · 1The Mail also reported a policy blitz including 50,000 new prison places, expanded free childcare entitlement and a hint that inheritance tax could be scrapped, with Badenoch insisting the party will keep the pension triple lock. 2 Right · 1On defence, Badenoch said "you cannot have social security without national security", answering Burnham's remark that national security "cannot come at the expense of social security"; the Mail said the party is committed to raising military spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030, funded mainly by welfare cuts. 2 Right · 1In interviews she called herself a "classic old-school Conservative", rejected the label "Badenochism" in favour of "Kemistry", and, asked whether welfare and aid cuts risked reviving a "nasty party" image, said: "It's the Common-Sense Party." 2

Centre · 1Opponents responded: Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the Tories wanted to go back to a politics that let people down and had "completely failed at every turn" in 14 years; Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper cited "fantasy-land financial pledges"; and Reform UK's Robert Jenrick said "The Tories are once again copying our policies". 1 Centre · 1Shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie is expected to challenge an SNP policy blocking approval of nuclear power stations in Scotland, calling it a "Luddite approach". 1 Right · 1In a Daily Mail sketch, Quentin Letts described a lighter-touch atmosphere in the hall, with around 500 activists at her speech, a drum kit on stage and a mock Bayeux Tapestry, and said Tory figures were "slightly terrified" of Badenoch. 4