Badenoch warns 'something is going to break' as she launches 'battle for soul of nation' speech
From the Newshound archive · first published 7 October 2026.
Kemi Badenoch will frame the next general election as a "battle for the soul of this nation" in her keynote conference speech in Birmingham on Wednesday, taking aim at Andy Burnham's Labour government over its "tax doom loop" and offering a sharply Thatcherite alternative. She is expected to warn that "something is going to break" without stronger economic growth, and to accuse Burnham of wanting to "wind back the clock to failed ideas of the past." The speech is set to include a cut to the 40% inheritance tax rate and a commitment to cut employer national insurance in half for 21-to-24-year-olds, at an estimated cost of £2.3 billion.
Badenoch has also pledged to scrap Labour's so-called 'mansion tax' on properties worth over £2 million, positioning the Tories as the party that believes 'what people earn belongs to them.'
She is also set to reverse Labour's new asylum routes for Afghans and Palestinians, with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp vowing to close the scheme 'immediately' and deport 150,000 people a year.
On the triple lock, Badenoch declined to guarantee its restoration should Burnham axe it, offering only: 'If you want the triple lock, vote Conservative.'