Noa Hoffman
Britain’s major right-wing parties today took the fight to Labour – and each other – over the economy. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick flexed their fiscal muscles as they vowed to take Andy Burnham to task over excessive spending and an ‘addiction’ to welfare.
On the first day of Reform’s conference, the party’s Treasury spokesperson told business leaders that, as Chancellor, he would reduce spending by £80 billion a year by the end of the next parliament. He also announced that he had written to major holders of UK government debt, including banks and pension funds, inviting them to attend a ‘roadshow’ and ‘private round tables’ in London and New York, where he will set out his approach to borrowing. While Reform is renowned for its campaigning on migration, it has often been criticised for paying too little attention to the economy. Jenrick is determined to change that.
While there is clear blue water between his economic vision and Burnham’s, the former Tory minister is also keen to distinguish Reform from his old party. He spent the day pitching Reform as ‘the party of fiscal credibility’ and warning that both ‘the Tories and Labour have lost the trust of businesses and investors’.
