Badenoch says UK is getting poorer and failing to compete on world stage
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Tory leader says her party offered policies without plans while in government and politicians are not being honest with public. Kemi Badenoch has said the UK is getting poorer and people should be honest that it is failing to compete with the rest of the world.
In a speech billed as the Conservative leader confronting the party’s mistakes in government, Badenoch failed to offer a specific apology but said that the party had offered policy without a plan, including on Brexit and net zero. “We are all getting poorer,” she said, speaking to journalists and MPs in what was touted as her first keynote speech. “Politicians across all parties have not told the truth about this and instead keep prescribing quick fixes that are actually making things worse.”.
Badenoch did not say that was the fault of the Conservatives, but was “broader than one party, one leader, or one period of government”. She said that many had “not been honest with the public”. “We are a great country, but we’ve lost our way,” she said. “The truth is that Britain is failing to compete in a world that is changing. And it is not working for its citizens, certainly not the way it used to.”.
But in questions after the speech, Badenoch rejected the possibility of a merger with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. “Nigel Farage says he wants to destroy the Conservative party. Why on earth would we merge with that?”. Badenoch said that the Conservative party under Theresa May and Boris Johnson had failed to plan for Brexit and had promised low immigration when the numbers were rising.
