Badenoch says Labour lacks courage to cut spending as Budget approaches
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said Labour will not have the "courage" to make the public spending cuts she argued are needed to bring down debt and pay for defence.
Speaking ahead of the Budget on 28 October, Ms Badenoch said the Conservatives would reduce public spending by £70bn, according to the BBC. Britain's opposition Conservatives called on the Labour government to cut spending and borrowing at the Budget, Reuters reported.
Ms Badenoch said the Conservatives would reduce borrowing by finding £70bn of savings, including through cuts to the welfare bill. Under the Conservatives' "golden economic rule", she said, half of those savings would go towards reducing the deficit.
The party's published savings plan lists a £36bn reduction in welfare spending and a £9.5bn reduction in overseas spending.
The intervention comes eight days before Chancellor John Healey sets out his tax and spending plans. It will be the first Budget since Andy Burnham became prime minister.
Government borrowing stood at £18.3bn in August. The government paid £8.8bn in debt interest that month, the highest level since records began in 1997, the BBC reported.
Mr Healey has been under pressure to increase defence funding to 3% of national income by 2030. That announcement is not expected until the spending review next year, which sets departmental budgets.
The Budget is also unlikely to include details of changes to the welfare system. Those are expected after Alan Milburn produces his review into young people and work.
Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson described Ms Badenoch's solution as "reverse Robin Hood politics".
The Conservatives have also announced they would scrap inheritance tax on family homes and allow couples to leave £1m tax-free. The party has pledged to scrap the rule under which parents in England earning more than £100,000 a year lose out on childcare support. Childcare policy is devolved, so the pledge applies in England.
