CONSERVATIVE Party leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed that the Labour Party is “the party of welfare” during an exclusive interview with GB News.
Asked by Katherine Forster how the country can increase defence spending, Badenoch said: “It’s a good question. There’s only one way to do it, and that is to grow our economy, get people into work.
“The Conservative Party is the party of work. We have a Labour government that’s the party of welfare. All it cares about is benefits.
“We can’t fund defence with lots of people on benefits. All the money that should be going into defence is going on paying people to stay at home when they should be working. That is how we start fixing this problem.
“So today, I’ve been visiting Evolve Dynamics, who make drones, as part of our announcement for a Sovereign Defence Fund, Labour should have put out its defence investment plan. Today, they’ve done nothing.
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“Someone needs to do the thinking. The Conservative Party is the only one that can and basically what we’re saying is that, you look at what’s happening in Ukraine, we have got to accelerate our capability in lethal drone manufacture, making them as quickly as possible at scale, really critical. And we need money to do that.
“Getting that Sovereign Defence Fund up and running will help solve that problem. But the second thing is to get Chinese components out of our critical infrastructure, out of defence. China is cornering the markets. It is supplying both sides in the Ukraine war, making a lot of money, other people aren’t getting a look in.
“We’re losing manufacturing capability if we allow China to do everything. The Sovereign Defence Fund is about encouraging British manufacturing, investing in British manufacturers, to make sure that we have the defence capability that we need.”
On deploying British forces to Ukraine, she said: “I’ve always said that we should support Ukraine in every way that we can. They are a democracy that’s been invaded by an aggressive dictator, but we’re not writing any blank cheques for Labour. I haven’t seen exactly what they mean by this.
“I want us to make sure we look after British troops and not just use them willy-nilly where it’s not necessary. So I need to see the details of that plan. I want to make sure that everything we do is in our national interest.
“I do believe supporting Ukraine is in our national interest. Russia is not our friend. They are not an ally. They are an enemy. You look at what happened in Salisbury. They’ve killed British people on British soil. We do not want to pretend that Russia is a party that can be appeased.
“It’s Reform, Nigel Farage, they’re the ones who’ve had their leaders taking bribes from Russia. That’s not us. We are not Russia’s friend in the Conservative Party. We want to protect the UK.”
She went on to describe as “complete nonsense” the government’s new plans to tackle misogyny: “It is a sign of a government that is completely defeated and has run out of ideas. It’s not 11-year-old boys who are perpetrating violence against women and girls. That’s what they should be focusing on.
“Get the people who’ve come from cultures that don’t respect women out of our country. That’s why we have policies like deporting all foreign criminals, no ifs. But if you want to solve violence against women and girls, get more police on the streets, 10,000 more police officers keeping our streets safe, but pretending that if we have a few more courses in primary school or year seven, that’s what’s going to fix it, is just complete nonsense.
“What’s happened is some people in Labour have watched Adolescence and they think that that’s how they should be making policy. Completely ridiculous.”
On small boats, Badenoch said: “No, the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality at all. They’re scared, they’re weak. They’re divided. They don’t agree amongst themselves. Shabana Mahmoud, the Home Secretary, came out with a few good ideas, not enough, nowhere near enough, and they were all attacking her.
“They have no plans to sort this issue out. That’s why they’re talking about going to schools to tell boys to stop being so naughty. That’s not what’s going to stop a lot of the perpetrators out there. It isn’t courses. We need enforcement.”
Asked about the Erasmus scheme, she said: “It is a terrible use of money. We have some of the best universities in the world, in the UK, so lots of people want to come to our universities to study, and Erasmus never gave UK students as much as it gave others.
“We even had lots of people failing to pay back loans, for example. But we thought the £220 million was too expensive. We were not getting value for money at £220 million, Labour is now spending half a billion, and that’s the discounted price.
“These people cannot negotiate. There was a deal that was negotiated by the Conservatives. It wasn’t perfect, but it is a lot better than anything that Labour is doing right now. They are making everything worse.”
On concerns about Inheritance Tax changes for farmers, she said: “I’ve been very clear, Conservatives will reverse all of these changes on family farms taxes, family business taxes too…I want people to know that we think what Labour has done has been cruel and immoral.
“It is wrecking farming in our country. It’s, as you said, we’ve heard stories about some farmers committing suicide at a time when food security is at the top of many people’s minds. This is an area that Labour should not be messing about [with].”
Asked about the effects of the Budget changes on the hospitality industry, she said: “I do worry about pubs. And I asked the prime minister at PMQs yesterday what he was going to do, and it was just waffle.
“We need to make sure that we back business in this country. Pubs employ a lot of young people. What Labour did with the jobs tax, that increase in National Insurance, hit many of them hard, and they were expecting some relief on business rates in last month’s Budget, they got nothing.
“In fact, their business rates are very likely increasing. That is a real problem for pubs, and at Christmas time, when they should be making much of their profit, a lot of them are running at a loss. So I am worried about pubs.
“We have a save the pub campaign. We’re doing everything we can to mitigate and try and get Labour on the right track.”
