Badenoch Promises a Battle for the Soul of the Nation
In extracts released before her leader’s speech today, Kemi Badenoch casts the next election as “a battle for the soul of this nation” and accuses the government of believing “that your income, your pension and your savings are theirs to take and then hand out as they see fit”. The funding plan for Monday’s £2.3bn national insurance cut is published alongside it.
What has been trailed and what has been confirmed are not the same thing, which is worth holding on to all day. The Times reports she will announce a cut to the 40% inheritance tax rate, which bites above £325,000, or £500,000 where a home passes to children or grandchildren. The deputy leader Alex Burghart would not confirm it on BBC Breakfast: “Kemi has said she’d like to abolish inheritance tax but it’s very important we can afford any announcement we can make”, with the shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith still working out what is possible. The Times also reports the tax cuts would be funded by £30bn of welfare reductions, a figure today’s costings will either carry or quietly drop. Monday’s measure takes employer national insurance from 15% to 7.5% for 21 to 24-year-olds, against a backdrop of about a million young people not in education, employment or training. Griffith wants to scrap at least one tax every Budget and has the High Value Council Tax Surcharge, due in 2028 on English homes worth over £2m, in his sights. John Healey answers that his own promises are “built on the rock of fiscal discipline”. The Budget is on 28 October.