Badenoch rules out Reform deal and cuts national insurance for young workers

Kemi Badenoch has said she would rather have another general election than do a deal with Reform UK if no party wins the next election. In an interview with political editor Chris Mason at the Conservative Party conference, the Conservative leader accused Nigel Farage's Reform Party of being 'neck-deep in scandal'. She said joining forces with it would mean one problem after another.

Badenoch was pressed on the state of her party. She said the mood at conference was upbeat because the Conservatives were going back to first principles and to the authentic Conservative Party that people knew and loved. Asked whether the party was in denial, given it is polling worse than at the last election, she said: 'Let an election be called. We know who we are. We know what we think. We're going the right way.' She accepted the party was not out of the woods and pointed to a multi-party era. She said current polling showed a hung Parliament with no party getting an overall majority, and predicted another election immediately after. She argued the Conservatives were the only credible alternative to Labour and the only party with a plan.

She was asked what she would do if a hung Parliament left her as the largest party and Reform UK as a significant force. She said voters who want conservative government should vote conservative. She added that she would hold another election rather than work with Reform, even if the keys to Downing Street were dangling. She said she wanted Reform voters to come back and repeated her criticism of the party.

On policy, Badenoch announced a cut to employer national insurance for workers aged 21 to 24. The aim is to address youth unemployment and help young people into work. Asked how it would be paid for, she said money had been found last year through a programme called the first jobs bonus. She said rising youth unemployment meant people could not get a first job, so the policy was being adapted and updated. Asked why she would not cut employer national insurance for everyone, she said the money had to be found first. She described the tax as a jobs tax but said young people faced a worse problem than others. She said the party had a golden economic rule and would be fiscally credible, finding savings before spending. She added that she would cut the tax for everybody if she could afford to.

Attention now turns to Badenoch's conference speech. She is expected to claim there is a battle for the soul of the nation and a battle of ideas between Labour and the Conservatives. She will say the fundamental problem is that the country is running out of money, and that spending money we do not have on things we cannot afford is not kind but reckless. She is also widely expected to signal that a future Conservative government would cut inheritance tax, which she sees as unfair and immoral.