Badenoch vows to slash inheritance tax in ‘battle for soul of the nation’

Kemi Badenoch vowed to slash inheritance tax and put growth at the heart of her plans for government as she pitched the Conservatives as the “no-nonsense” party to take on Andy Burnham’s Labour.

The Tory leader said the next election will be a “battle for the soul of the nation” as she promised the party would focus on letting people “keep more of what they earn”.

In a speech to the Conservative annual conference in Birmingham, she pledged to abolish death duties on all “family homes” and allow couples to leave behind an additional £1 million tax-free.

The move would mean the number of families paying inheritance will fall by more than a half, Mrs Badenoch said as she accused the Labour Government of being “addicted to welfare” and spending too much while “drowning our country in debt”.

“The Labour Party think it is selfish to pass on what you have earned to your children. We don’t,” she said.

As she seeks to reverse the Tories’ fortunes following its 2024 electoral rout, she insisted she was “not someone who gets written off” and “neither is the Conservative Party”.

“We are going to win, not for ourselves, but for our country. For every hard-working person out there, for everyone who wants to see common sense restored, for everyone who wants to see Britain working again,” she said.

“We are going to win for everyone who wants to see our great country united.”

The Tories have put the economy top of their agenda at their party conference this autumn, focusing less on the so-called “culture wars” that dominated previous years.

Mrs Badenoch said the party, which is behind Labour and narrowly trailing Reform UK in opinion polls, would adopt a “tough love” approach to slash the benefits bill and get more young people into work.

“We need to put the fair back in welfare,” she said. “It is morally wrong to tell people suffering bouts of mild anxiety that they are disabled and cannot work.”

Attacking the Burnham Government, she said: “It’s the same old high tax, high spend Labour. No common sense.

“Addicted to welfare. Drowning our country in debt. Choking our economy with taxes.”

Reviving the economy would be the “central organising principle” of a future Conservative administration, she said.

Claiming the party was united after an “export boom of drama queens” who have defected to Reform UK, she again ruled out forming a pact with Nigel Farage’s party to avoid splitting the right-wing vote at the next election.

Taking aim at the party over ongoing scrutiny of its finances, she said: “The circus goes on and on and it will never stop, because this is who Reform politicians are.

“To those who say ‘unite the right’, we are not uniting with that.”

She suggested Reform UK would take the country “backwards,” adding: “This party is now the no drama party. We are the no-nonsense party.”

Along with promising to cut the rate inheritance tax, the Tories have used the conference to announce a raft of new policy pledges including:

– Halving the rate of employer national insurance on earnings for people aged between 21 to 24.

– Blocking school leavers from moving straight onto out-of-work benefits in what they describe as a “tough love” approach to boost youth employment.

– Scrapping the so-called “mansion tax” on properties in England with a value higher than £2 million due to come into effect in 2028.

– Cutting red tape and abolishing arms-length bodies including Natural England in a bid to speed up development and reduce the cost of new homes for buyers.

– Investing £10 billion over 10 years in a new “Britannia Shield”, a defence system which would seek to protect Britain and its overseas bases from drone and missile attacks.

Political opponents have accused the Conservatives of playing “fantasy economics” by understating the cost of their plans, which the Tories insist are fully funded.

Questions also linger over the Tories’ long-term commitment to the triple lock, which Prime Minister Mr Burnham has pledged to adjust in order to help fund a new national care service.

Mrs Badenoch has said current Conservative policy is to keep the state pension guarantee but said it would be “difficult” to commit to reinstating the policy if Labour changed or scrapped it.

Published: 07/10/2026 by Radio NewsHub