Picking Kemi Badenoch as new Tory leader shows the Conservatives haven't listened

The British people sent a clear message to the Conservatives at the general election. They’d had enough, after 14 years of failure and chaos.

Kemi Badenoch’s election as Leader shows the Conservatives haven’t listened. The Tories are in denial, blind to the legacy of their 14 years in office and indifferent to the chaos they left behind.

Their leadership election was a wild ride of discredited ideas, division, and disunity. Rather than focusing on the country’s priorities, Badenoch made offensive comments about autistic children, and suggested she would get rid of maternity pay and slash the minimum wage.

What a contrast with this Labour government. We’re delivering for the public by extending maternity rights for women and raising the minimum wage for millions of low-paid workers. The first Labour Budget in 14 years announced record investment in the health service.

We’re protecting working people’s payslips from tax rises. We’re giving more money to state schools, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.

The public deserve to know what Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives would do instead.

Would they cut that money from the NHS? Would they take money away from our state schools?

Politics is about choices. This Labour government has been straight with the public: we had to make some difficult choices in our Budget. We inherited a dire economic situation from the Conservatives.

If Kemi Badenoch wants to scrap the Budget that will set this country on a path to a better future, then she should be honest about it. The British people can see what Labour are doing to deliver the change that the public so clearly voted for.

We’re rebuilding our country and fixing the foundations of the economy. All the Tories offer is more of the same discredited ideas and infighting. It’s time the Conservatives finally took some responsibility for the mess they left behind.