Kemi Badenoch has promised that no one will pay inheritance tax on their family home under a Conservative government, and couples will be allowed to pay an extra £1m in tax.
The Conservative leader made the commitment today in an hour-long speech to his party’s conference in Birmingham, in which he promised to cut “every inheritance tax bill”.
Under current rules, qualifying estates can pass up to £500,000, and qualifying property from a surviving spouse or civil partner up to £1m, without liability to inheritance tax, according to HM Revenue & Customs. That threshold remains until the end of the 2029 to 2030 tax years.
The pledge follows Badenoch’s promise last month to restore tax-free shopping for overseas visitors, and comes three weeks before Chancellor John Healey’s Budget on October 28.
Badenoch said the Conservatives would focus on reducing government debt, using half of the policy savings to reduce the deficit.
He described the welfare system as “broken” and called for a “tough love” approach. “We spend more on benefits than we raise on income tax,” she said.
The party will build a new welfare system where everyone who can work will work, he said. Those who have not found work for six months will be given a card that can only be used to buy necessities. “No alcohol, no smoking, no gambling,” she said.
Regarding youth unemployment, Badenoch said the answer is to “get the government out of the way” so businesses can create jobs.
Badenoch said businesses were “being held back in many ways”, blaming the planning, tax and energy systems. “Less than one out of four major planning applications decided on time,” she said.
Describing what he believes could be the growth, he said: “It looks like pensioners who go grocery shopping and realize they can pay less because lower energy prices mean cheaper food.”
He said that there would be more cafes and restaurants if the tariffs were abolished, and that housing would be cheaper because the party had removed regulations that caused building costs. The Conservatives set out their deregulation and housing proposals earlier this week, which the party said could reduce the cost of new homes by up to £50,000.
Badenoch added that it was “time to finally build a third runway at Heathrow”.
He accused Labor of ideas that would “make every single person in this country poor”, and said the war of ideas will come to British politics, going “to the core of who we are”. He described the Conservatives as a “united team”, said the “drama” of the old party was gone, and said Britain’s Reform voters “deserve better”.
Responding to the speech, Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, said: “Business will welcome the Opposition Leader’s strong support for companies as engines of prosperity, as well as a focus on sound public finances and tackling excessive regulation.”
He said the Conservatives were “rightly focused on making it easier and cheaper to hire”, especially young people. He added: “But the bigger prize is to raise the threshold at which employers start paying National Insurance. That will reduce the cost of hiring on board and give companies the confidence to create entry-level jobs.
CBI asked in August to cut to employers’ national insurance in the report on youth employment. Entrepreneurs also mentioned the tax after Jeremy Clarkson asked a conference why people set up business in the UK.
On energy, Newton-Smith said: “With businesses across the country plagued by high energy bills, proposals to deliver cheap, clean and plentiful energy will be welcomed.”