Kemi Badenoch considering announcing more tax cut plans at Conservative Conference

The Conservative Party is meeting in Birmingham this week for its annual conference.

Kemi Badenoch is likely to make more announcements about “scrapping taxes” at the Conservative Party Conference this week, Kevin Hollinrake has said.

The Thirsk and Malton MP, who is also the Tory Chair, spoke to The Yorkshire Post ahead of his party’s big jamboree in Birmingham.

Mr Hollinrake promised that there would be “more big announcements” at conference, after Mrs Badenoch pledged to end a £100,000 childcare “cliff edge”.

He said: “Kemi has been clear, she is not just cutting taxes, she is scrapping taxes - things like stamp duty and things like business rates - that is the right thing to do.

“There will be more of that at the conference, we’ll have some exciting new announcements.

“That’s her philosophy - low tax, low regulation and set the forces of the entrepreneurial economy free.

“We believe in people, we want to make sure we take the best advantages of the economy ahead. But we have got to get the basics right first.”

Mr Hollinrake said that unlike Labour going into the 2024 election the Conservative Party has “got a detailed plan”.

He said this was focused on “how we are going to have a stronger economy and how we are going to have a stronger country too, particularly about protecting our borders”.

On the eve of the conference, Mrs Badenoch announced that all parents working 16 or more hours a week would be eligible to get 30 hours of free childcare a week.

Under existing rules, families with young children in which both parents earn less than £100,000 a year can receive 30 hours a week of care, but lose the entitlement if one parent crosses this threshold.

The Conservatives estimate the policy would cost £700 million a year, which party officials say could be funded by cutting the number of public servants at arms-length bodies.

Some £1.6 billion could be saved by the end of the decade through reducing headcount at organisations such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency, party officials say.

NHS bodies would not be included in the savings, the Tories said.

Tory leader Mrs Badenoch described the system as “absurd” and a disincentive to work more.

“Conservatives believe that you shouldn’t be punished for working more, but this childcare cliff edge does exactly that,” she said.

“I’m a mum of three and I’ve had to make the same choices many families have had to make on work and childcare. Those choices are difficult already, Government should not be making them harder.

“No one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they literally cannot afford to earn more.

“It is often women who end up carrying more of the childcare responsibility so a system that makes it harder for them to progress in their careers is not helping families, it is not helping women and it is definitely not helping the economy.”

Responding to the proposal, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “No government has ever put so much focus or investment into the early years as this Labour Government.

“It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that the first of their own tax policies they want to unpick is one helping higher earners.”