Kemi Badenoch launched the Conservatives’ local election campaign while promising to “get Britain working” in a speech this morning.
During the rally in a room packed with supporters, the Tory leader accused Reform and Labour of putting up council tax in a defiant plea to voters to back her party.
In the optimistic speech, Mrs Badenoch promised cut to the ballooning benefits bill and touched on the Iran war, which is currently serving as the backdrop in the run-up to the parties’ contest while Britons endure skyrocketing energy bills.
Earlier this morning, the UK was hit with another surge in energy prices while cost for gas surged by 24 per cent when Iranian strikes caused “extensive damage” at Qatar’s main gas hub – causing another headache for Britain.
Making her case to the electorate, the Tory leader outlined the Conservatives’ “cheap power plan”, funded by cutting green levies and boosting reliance on oil and gas.
Previously, the Tory leader brushed off Reform’s repeated cries that “Britain is broken” and insisted systems and insitutions might be broken, but Britain itself is not broken and “could be fixed”.
Today, she persisted with her cheery display, declaring: “Let me tell you why I’m optimistic about this country’s future. I’m optimistic because the Conservative Party is coming back.
“We are coming back for hard working people up and down this country who need our help. We are coming back to save them from third rate people running their Government and their councils.”
The Tory leader insisted her party was eyeing up a comeback ahead of the local contest
|
PA
At the last round of local elections, Nigel Farage’s party snatched overall control across 10 councils, with 677 council seats dotted around the country.
Nevertheless, the North West Essex MP said her party is eyeing up a comeback after its historically poor General Election showing less than two years ago.
She said: “We are coming back to cut their taxes, to clean up the places they live in. We are coming back and we will get Britain working again.
“There is only one party that has the courage, the competence, the team to build this at every level of government, whether it’s a borough council, a district council, a county council.
“On May 7, every vote for the Conservatives counts in five, six, seven party politics. Many elections will come down to fine margins.
Kemi Badenoch with local councillors party activists in north London
|
PA
At the last round of local elections, Nigel Farage’s party snatched overall control across 10 councils, with 677 council seats dotted around the country.
But her rival’s electoral success has failed to faze the leader, who criticised Reform’s Kent County Council after it slapped higher council taxes on its residents despite campaigning against doing so.
“Every councillor we get elected, every council we run is somewhere where we can start to deliver our plan,” Mrs Badenoch said.
“Somewhere we can keep council tax down for struggling families, somewhere we can deliver better public services, fix potholes, run better schools, somewhere we can back business, back our high streets and get our villages, towns and cities working again.
“Every win is another step on that path,” Mrs Badenoch beamed.
She continued: “We have to show people that this is a new Conservative party. It’s not going to happen overnight, but it starts by delivering for people wherever we are given the chance.
“There is only one party that can build a stronger economy. Only one party that can build a stronger country. That is the Conservative Party.
“And I need you, ladies and gentlemen, to go out there and tell people up and down the country in every election. This is what the Conservative Party stands for.
“This is who we are fighting for. This is how we will deliver. And together we will get Britain working.”
In response, Labour said the Tories’ claim to have changed was “laughable”, with a spokesman saying: “They haven’t learned a thing, they haven’t apologised and they haven’t changed.
“They’re the last people anyone would trust to fix the problems they created. Only Labour has the right plan for Britain.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK’s spokesman said: “Voters won’t forgive this endless parade of broken promises. Come May 7 the Conservatives will be finished as a national political party.”