GRIFFITH AND BADENOCH SET OUT POLICIES AT TORY CONFERENCE

The Conservative Party held its party conference this week, where Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith and Kemi Badenoch addressed delegates. Griffith set out proposals for cuts to welfare spending, overseas aid and public bodies, alongside reductions in taxation, telling the conference his party would be "the ones to make the hard choices". Badenoch told delegates that the privatisation of water under Margaret Thatcher had been a "success". She also announced a defence policy, which she named the "Britannia Shield", describing it as a measure to protect the UK. According to a commentary covering the event, Griffith's speech was delivered to a conference hall with few attendees.

The same commentary noted that Griffith previously helped draw up the 2022 mini-budget presented when Liz Truss was prime minister. It said the proposed cuts to welfare, aid and public bodies were not accompanied by details of which public services might be affected by the related tax reductions. The commentary, which took a critical view of the Conservative Party, argued that the party had governed from 2010 to 2024 over a period in which it said the economy stagnated, prisons reached capacity, school buildings deteriorated, the NHS came under pressure and social care provision fell short. It also said Badenoch's comments on defence came after what it described as reductions to military spending during the party's time in office. These characterisations of the Conservatives' record were presented in the commentary as Labour's assessment, rather than as agreed fact.

The commentary also reported that the Conservative Party's chair told delegates the party does not want an early general election. It said Griffith and Badenoch had not addressed what it called past shortcomings while setting out new proposals. No date for a general election has been announced. The Conservative Party did not offer its own response to the claims made in the commentary.