It is a funny old time for the Tories right now. The government has rather sportingly decided to commit seppuku a fortnight before the Budget. So how are they to get any headlines? Mr S has done some digging and it turns out that the brains of Matthew Parker Street have been hard at work – a word, incidentally, that featured more than 50 times in Kemi Badenoch’s speech last week. Clearly Britney Spears’ 2013 hit has been playing on the Tory leader’s headphones…
For next week, she and Sir Mel Stride, the Shadow Chancellor, are planning a big speech, setting out exactly what the Tories would do differently. Welfare cuts are expected to feature prominently: a way to distinguish the party from Labour and Reform, both of whom are expected to shortly be committed to lifting the two-child benefit cap. Expect the pressure on the Chancellor to be ramped up too, with the Tories recently demanding that ‘If she puts up tax, give Reeves the axe.’
Steerpike had heard talk of this being billed as an ‘Alternative Budget’ – a phrase that brings to mind the spectacle of Danny Alexander’s infamous yellow Budget box of 2015. Party apparatchiks have dismissed this suggestion – but confirmed that spending cuts will be the focus of Badenoch’s next big foray. Fire up the chainsaw!
With Nigel Farage planning another big Budget speech, she ought to get in there sharpish…
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