Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader (Image: Getty)
Kemi Badenoch is to name the three biggest “mistakes” made by recent Conservative governments with a warning that “generations” of politicians have failed to be honest with voters.
She will launch a scathing attack on “mad and bad” policies imposed by Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and accuse Sir ’s government of “vandalism” by imposing more controls on academy schools.
But she will also talk bluntly about the failings of Tory administrations before last year’s general election, which saw the party expelled from power and reduced to a rump of just 121 MPs compared to 412 for Labour.
Errors included failing to prepare properly for , embracing green “net zero” policies and allowing immigration to soar, Ms Badenoch will say.
She will insist: “The public will never trust politicians unless we can accept our mistakes.”
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In her first major speech of the year, Ms Badenoch will say: “We announced that we would leave the before we had a plan for growth outside the EU.
“We made it the law that we would deliver Net-Zero carbon emissions by 2050. And only then did we start thinking about how we would do that.
“We announced that we would lower immigration, but immigration kept going up.
“These mistakes were made because we told people what they wanted to hear first and then tried to work it out later.”
Setting out her plan to regain the trust of voters, she will add: “That is going to stop under my leadership. If we are going to turn our country around, we’re going to have to say some things that aren’t easy to hear.”
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The speech will include a section attacking Labour policies including means-testing winter fuel allowance and imposing inheritance tax on family farms.
Ms Badenoch, Tory leader since November last year, will say: “Those options were presented to us, time and time again by officials, and we rejected them time and time again because they would hurt so many people for so little benefit.
“The Chancellor took them because she has no ideas of her own.”
But much of the focus will be on her own party, with comments that will appear to be a criticism of former Tory Prime Ministers such as Liz Truss, and .
Ms Badenoch will say: “The Conservative Party is under new leadership.”
The Tory leader believes that admitting the errors of the past is a vital first step towards convincing voters to listen to what she says in the future.
Some Tory MPs have expressed disquiet about Ms Badenoch’s reluctance to make substantial new policy announcements.
But she is to stick with her plan to “renew” the party, which involves spending he next two years restoring Tory credibility before setting out detailed ideas for a future government.
The Conservative leader also hopes voters will acknowledge the contrast between her straight talking and the approach taken by “dishonest” Labour.
The nation has become poorer and weaker because politicians have failed to tell the truth, Ms Badenoch will warn.
She will insist: “We are all getting poorer. Politicians across all parties have not told the truth about this and instead keep prescribing solutions that are actually making things worse.
“This problem is broader than one party, one leader, or one period of government. Generations of leaders and entire ranks of senior managers have been trying and failing for a long time.
“Many have not been honest with the public about the challenges we face. And others have not even been honest with themselves.”
Conservative MPs have been buoyed by the turmoil in Sir ’s Labour government, which was rocked by the resignation of Sir Keir’s chief of staff Sue Gray, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and, this week, Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq.
There was amazement when the Chancellor announced she was means-testing winter fuel payments, a policy Treasury officials suggested to previous Labour Ministers as far back as 2009 as well as to recent Tory administrations. Politicians repeatedly rejected the idea because they knew it would be unpopular, until it was adopted by Ms Reeves.
But one Conservative MP said: “Labour would love us to be complacent and imagine we are going to walk back into power but we know that the Tory brand was in tatters by the end, and we have to put in the work to rebuild it.”
Some are also worried about the growing popularity of Reform, led by . A poll by More in Common this week found 25% of voters would now back the while Labour and Reform are on 24% each.