Badenoch to make growth central to election pitch

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is expected to use her conference speech in Birmingham on Wednesday to make economic growth and tax reduction central to the party’s pitch for the next election, describing the contest as a battle over the country’s future. The speech had not yet been delivered in reports published ahead of the address, so its anticipated commitments remain unconfirmed. Badenoch is expected to argue that stronger growth is necessary to avoid serious economic consequences and to accuse Labour of pursuing policies that, in her view, would increase taxes and weaken the economy. She plans to present the Conservatives as the party of lower taxes and fiscal restraint, arguing that people should retain more of what they earn. These are claims and arguments she is expected to make, not independently established assessments of Labour’s policies or their effects. The planned address follows several economic policy announcements at the Conservative conference. These include a pledge to halve employers’ national insurance contributions on earnings for workers aged 21 to 24, and to scrap a property tax applying to homes in England valued above £2 million.