Badenoch 'completely the opposite' of Reeves on economy

Conservative person Kemi Badenoch said her attack to the system would beryllium "completely the opposite" to that of Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg connected her archetypal time successful the job, Badenoch gave a archetypal glimpse of her argumentation priorities, including connected reversing the VAT hike for backstage schools.

She said the Conservatives "got a batch of things wrong" up of their historical predetermination defeat, including connected migration and tax, but refused to springiness a "post-mortem" of her predecessors and claimed the Partygate ungraded was "overblown".

With appointments to her shadiness furniture expected successful the adjacent mates of days, Badenoch said she wanted to amusement the enactment was agreed with a meritocratically selected beforehand bench.

When asked whether she would reverse the chancellor's determination to summation employers' nationalist security (NI) contributions, Badenoch said she is not the chancellor and besides has "very few" MPs.

"We’re not going to beryllium capable to reason thing successful presumption of getting authorities through," she said, adding she could lone "make the statement that raising taxes successful this way... is not going to turn our system and volition permission each of america poorer".

However, erstwhile asked straight whether she would reverse the VAT hike connected backstage schools, Badenoch was definite, saying "yes, yes, I would... due to the fact that it’s a taxation connected aspiration, but it won’t rise immoderate money" and was truthful "against our principles".

Badenoch besides told Ms Kuenssberg that "it is not the authorities that creates growth, it is concern creates growth", adding that this is "completely the other of what Rachel Reeves is doing".

Badenoch, who is the archetypal achromatic person of a Westminster party, said she not lone disagrees with Reeves' economical policies but besides the mode she has discussed being the UK's archetypal pistillate chancellor successful 800 years.

She said: "I deliberation that the champion happening volition beryllium erstwhile we get to a constituent wherever the colour of your tegument is nary much singular than the colour of your eyes, oregon the colour of your hair.

"I find it astonishing that Rachel Reeves keeps talking astir however she’s the archetypal pistillate chancellor, which successful my presumption is simply a very, precise debased solid ceiling wrong the Labour Party, which she whitethorn person smashed.

"Nowhere adjacent arsenic important arsenic what different women successful this state person achieved."

She was besides captious of her predecessor Rishi Sunak's leadership, saying helium had mislaid spot with voters due to the fact that "promises connected migration and connected taxation were not kept and that is thing that we request to change".

Badenoch resigned from Boris Johnson's furniture implicit his handling of the Chris Pincher affair, which she said resulted successful the nationalist reasoning "we were nary longer speaking for them oregon looking retired them, we were successful it for ourselves".

But successful regards to the Partygate scandal, she said Johnson walked into "a trap".

"A batch of the worldly that happened astir Partygate was not wherefore I resigned - I thought it was overblown," she said.

"We should not person created fixed punishment notices... that was america not going with our principles."

When asked to apologise for the economical turmoil nether Liz Truss, Badenoch said she wanted to "draw a line" nether the faults of erstwhile leaders and refused to spell done a "post-mortem" of each Conservative person "for the past 14 years".

Instead, Badenoch said her absorption was connected rebuilding spot and creating a cognition of unity wrong the party, though she said that was "very tricky", peculiarly erstwhile "not everybody wants to serve".

She added: "The nationalist didn’t spot america for a full clump of reasons - not keeping promises but besides looking disunited."

Addressing the nonaccomplishment of Conservative voters to Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage astatine the past election, Badenoch denied she would lone beryllium offering voters "more of the same".

She said: "Nigel Farage and the occurrence of Reform are a grounds of the Conservative enactment successful my view, not being wide capable and accordant capable astir values and astir however we were utilizing those Conservative values to present to the British people.

"If we get this right, past I deliberation radical volition commencement to spot that Reform is thing but a spoiler for the Conservatives and conscionable creates much and much Labour government."