Kemi Badenoch says Conservatives will channel public’s anger at Labour

Kemi Badenoch says she wants to channel public “anger” towards Labour, as she seeks to position the Conservatives as the only party willing to make the “tough decisions” facing the UK.

Speaking to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg , the Tory leader accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to properly fund the armed forces, despite “spending too much” overall in other areas.

And she accused Reform UK of an “authoritarian” desire to “control” industry, citing its policies on the oil sector and carmaker Rolls-Royce.

She added that the Tories were now better positioned to oppose the Starmer government, now that the public has seen Labour’s “draconian” first 18 months in office.

“It’s clearer what they are doing, so it is clearer what we are opposing,” she told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, adding that the Conservatives had started to go beyond offering “reflexive opposition”.

“I’m trying to channel the anger that a lot of people out there feel about the way the country is being run,” she added.

She added that the Conservatives had “learned a lot of lessons” since their ejection from power in the 2024 general election.

“We think we’re the only party that’s both competent enough and brave enough to take the tough decisions that will get the country in the right place,” she said.

Badenoch, who has led the Conservatives since November 2024, faces a steep task in turning her party’s fortunes around as she begins the new year.

Tory poll ratings have improved only marginally in recent months, despite her increasingly winning plaudits for her performances holding the government to account in Parliament.

But her party is having to compete with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to capitalise on Labour’s unpopularity.

In her interview with Kuenssberg, Badenoch continued recent attacks on both Labour and Reform’s economic policies, accusing them of offering “two different types of authoritarianism” and “two different types of grievance”.

She dismissed the prospect of doing a deal with Farage’s party to avoid splitting support among voters whose views are traditionally to the right of Labour, adding that Reform “wants to do the same things that Labour wants to do”.

She highlighted the party’s welfare stance, after Reform said last year it favoured lifting the two-child benefits cap for working British couples.

She also criticised Reform’s policies of offering government investment in oil and gas drilling in return for a taxpayer stake in projects, and its recent suggestion it would seek to own part of Rolls-Royce in return for offering the company contracts to build small nuclear reactors.

“They want to increase welfare spending, they want to nationalise Rolls-Royce, oil and gas,” she said, whilst the Tories were focused on “unleashing the animal spirits of the country”.