A Tory leadership candidate declared today that Britain should not receive any more cost-of-living payments, and that millions of wealthy pensioners should lose their winter fuel allowance.
Kemi Badenoch slammed “dead weight” funds for helping people with skyrocketing energy bills, promising instead “limits on government spending” to fund tax cuts.
After a packed launch event where she was applauded by star backer Michael Gove, the 42-year-old former Equalities Minister, who became an MP in 2017, was set to reach the 20 supporters needed to get on the ballot by 6pm.
Ms Badenoch slammed her opponents, saying the Conservatives should “stop pretending.” She said, “For too long politicians have been saying… you can have your cake and eat it. I’m here to tell you that’s not the case.”
“I will not enter into a tax bidding war and say that my tax cuts are bigger than yours,” she added. “The dividing line in this race is not tax cuts, it’s judgment.”
It comes as Conservative candidates race to promise deeper austerity cuts and tax cuts to appease Conservative members in a close race to replace Boris Johnson.
Ms Badenoch did not specify how much she would cut back on state services, despite her rival Nadhim Zahawi’s promise of 20% cuts in all areas, including the NHS.
However, if she takes over at 10 Downing Street on September 5, she will put an end to cost-of-living payments like those offered by Rishi Sunak.
Mr Sunak, as Chancellor, gave £650 to benefit claimants, £300 to pensioners, £150 to disabled people, and £400 to all energy bill payers to help them cope with rising prices.
But Ms Badenoch said: “What I’m not going to do is come out with lots of micro policies about giving people £50 cash here or a rebate there.
“I think it’s very inefficient – there’s a lot of dead weight in how we run government.”
She added: “The cost of living crisis is the big thing we’re dealing with and inflation is what’s driving it and likely to make things worse.
“And I think if we focus on the things government should be doing, that only government can do, we will make it easier for people both in the short, medium and long term.
Ms Badenoch delivered her speech at the Policy Exchange headquarters, where makeshift paper signs indicating’men’ and ‘women’ toilets were taped to the walls.
She devoted much of her 11-minute launch speech to ‘culture war’ squabbles, vowing to “discard Twitter’s priorities” and “the Ben and Jerry’s tendency” for businesses to prioritise “social justice” over profit.
Ms Badenoch demanded that police stop “worrying about hurt feelings online” and stated that “tick box exercises in sustainability, diversity, and equality” were not part of the “core mission.”
She claimed that “the right has lost confidence and courage,” that the government has “caved in” to social justice activists, and that the pledge to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050 is “unilateral economic disarmament.”