Badenoch to pledge half of money from cuts will go towards driving down deficit

Kemi Badenoch will set out a “golden rule” in her conference speech, that half of all money saved from cuts must be put towards shrinking the deficit, as she delivers her leader’s speech to the Conservative Party conference on Wednesday.

The other half would go on spending or cutting taxes to boost the economy, under the move that she will pledge to introduce if the Tories are re-elected to Government.

She will say the Conservatives’ plans for immigration, employment and policing require a strong economy.

Labour accused Mrs Badenoch of having a “brass neck” as she seeks to position her party as the only one that can get the economy back on track.

She is expected to say: “It starts with fiscal responsibility. We have to get the deficit down.

“And we must also show how every tax cut or spending increase is paid for.

“So today, I am going to introduce a new golden economic rule.

“Every pound we save will be put to work. At least half will go towards cutting the deficit.

“Because living within our means is our first priority. And with the rest, we are going to get our economy growing again and bring down the taxes stifling our economy.”

She will claim that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ plans will see the deficit double over the next ten years, which she will call “not sustainable” and “not fair”.

“It is stealing from our children and grandchildren. And Conservatives will put a stop to it,” she is expected to say.

She is also expected to criticise Labour’s now-reversed policy to cut back winter fuel payments for pensioners, while touting the £47 billion of cuts her party has pledged it would make if in power.

That includes £23 billion from welfare, £8 billion from the civil service, and £7 billion from the overseas aid budget.

Some £9 billion of the savings have been earmarked to cover new pledges to offer a £5,000 national insurance rebate for young people, scrap business rates, and previously announced policies to reverse Labour’s changes to agricultural and business property relief and VAT on private school fees.

Mrs Badenoch will on Wednesday also promise to double the apprenticeship budget from £3 billion to £6 billion, paid for by slashing the number of people going to university by reintroducing caps on how many students can enrol for each subject area.

Labour said the Tory leader should be apologising for the economic turmoil caused by former prime minister Liz Truss’s mini budget.

A Labour spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch has some brass neck.

“It’s astounding that her latest speech still contains no apology for the Conservatives crashing the economy, which left families saddled with sky-high mortgages and rising prices in the supermarket.”

The party said the Conservatives’ “fantasy” savings had been worked out “on the back of the same fag packet (Reform UK leader) Nigel Farage has been writing on”.

“The Tories are all over the place, it shows they’ve learned nothing and still can’t be trusted with the public finances,” the spokesperson said.

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said the idea that the public would trust the Conservatives with the economy is “laughable”.

They accused the party of having crashed the economy and “leaving services on their knees”.