Kemi Badenoch MP: speeches

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Can I send my warmest wishes to our armed forces at home and overseas, to the emergency services, and to everyone who will be working over Christmas? Can I wish you, Mr Speaker, the House staff and all Members of this House a very merry Christmas? For years, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet played politics with the WASPI women—the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign. The Deputy Prime Minister said the Conservatives were stealing their pensions. She promised to compensate them in full—another broken promise. Now, they admit that we were right all along. But let us ask about another group of pensioners whose trust was broken. Since the Chancellor cut winter fuel payments, how many extra people have applied for pension credit?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister did not answer the question because he does not know the answer. There are 850,000 eligible pensioners not claiming pension credit. If they sign up, that will cost the Treasury £2.3 billion, wiping out the savings that the Chancellor claimed she would make. Before the election, the Prime Minister’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury told the public that Labour had no plans to cut winter fuel payments, but they did have plans, didn’t they? Age UK says: “Cutting the Winter Fuel Payment, with very little notice…will potentially jeopardise the health, as well as the finances, of millions of older people”. Does the Prime Minister agree with Age UK that this is the last thing that pensioners and the NHS need?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Last week, the Prime Minister did not seem to want to talk about appointing fraudsters to his Cabinet. In fact, he seemed to want to talk about immigration, so let us talk about immigration. He has relaunched yet again, with many new targets, six milestones and five missions, but why was cutting immigration not a priority?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister did not answer a single— [ Interruption. ]

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister did not answer a single question. He never answers questions. He wants to talk about the past; the fact is that we have acknowledged where things went wrong, but he will never take responsibility. He has scrapped a deterrent that the National Crime Agency said we need. Since he came into government and scrapped the Rwanda deterrent, small boats arrivals have increased by nearly 20%. His own MPs are complaining about having to house asylum seekers, so can the Prime Minister tell the House how much more his Government will spend on hotel accommodation because he scrapped the deterrent?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister says that he wants to smash the gangs; the only thing he has smashed is his own reputation. What he has been agreeing is not going to do anything. The cost of the Iraq agreement is half a million pounds. That would not even buy a house in his constituency. Many of the things that he is taking credit for are our agreements. Let us talk about what he put in his manifesto. The Prime Minister promised to end asylum hotels. He promised, and he is Prime Minister now. But in Altrincham and Peterborough, his Government are expanding the use of asylum hotels, because he unilaterally disarmed the deterrent. In fact, a man who arrived by small boat told Sky News he was “happy” Labour was in power. That man said the Conservatives “wanted to deport us” but Labour is “making the procedure easier for us”. He is right, isn’t he?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Because the numbers are going up, under his watch. The Prime Minister has consistently backed criminals over law-abiding British people. He defended terrorists like Hizb ut-Tahrir in the European Court. He argued that “all immigration law” had a “racist undercurrent”. He voted against life sentences for people smugglers. He voted against more than 100 measures to control migration. He even said it was wrong when the Conservatives took away Shamima Begum’s citizenship. Now he has appointed her defence lawyer as his Attorney General. Events in Syria mean that we may see more small boat arrivals. For once, will he take the side of the British people, and strip citizenship from jihadi terrorists and supporters of Assad who want to come back and destroy this country?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister talks about open borders, but he was the one campaigning for free movement. I was, in this House, asking for a lift in skilled migration; he was supporting all the people who should not have been in this country. He wanted us to relax immigration, but as he is so keen to talk about the past, let us look at his record. Four years ago, the Prime Minister signed a letter demanding that foreign criminals be allowed to stay in Britain. Dozens of Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs repeatedly signed these letters, insisting that rapists and murderers be allowed to stay here. One of those criminals, Ernesto Elliott, had 17 convictions, including for knife crime. After his deportation was blocked, Elliott went on to murder someone. He was able to stay here and murder because people like this man campaigned against deporting criminals. Will he apologise for signing these letters?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  That is a ludicrous assertion. The Prime Minister is the one who was repeatedly signing those letters. He even asked us to pause all deportations. He does not want to talk about his past, but that letter is just the tip of the iceberg; there is more. The Prime Minister actually complained that the immigration system was working to “deter migrants rather than provide support.” He said that he was “proud to have served as Jeremy’s Shadow Immigration Minister”. He boasted that he “took the last Labour Government to court for cutting benefits for asylum seekers”, and said that he would never take “a target-based approach to immigration.” If he wants to talk about immigration, let us talk about his record; we can talk about it all day. The Prime Minister says that he wants to talk about immigration. I have committed to a cap on migration—why won’t he?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to Mandy Damari and her family for the strength they have shown. We on this side of the House, and I am sure the whole House, continue to seek the speedy release of Emily Damari and the other hostages. The Prime Minister talks about immigration, so it is probably a good time to remind him that he was the one writing letters asking us not to deport foreign criminals. He and his party voted against every single measure we put in place to try to limit immigration. The question today is what has been on the lips of all Labour MPs, including, I believe, the Health Secretary yesterday. The Prime Minister knowingly appointed a convicted fraudster to be his Transport Secretary. What was he thinking?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  He is obfuscating, but I am going to keep him on the topic. He owes the House an explanation. He says that the former Transport Secretary was asked to resign only after further information came to light. What was that further information?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I have seen the OECD report, and what it says is that they will be coming back for more taxes. The whole House will have heard him fail to repeat his own pledge. He cannot even repeat the pledges he made just a few weeks ago. We are here to stop him damaging the economy, and that is why— [ Interruption. ]

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  They are laughing the same way they all laughed during the Budget, when they talked about raising national insurance. They have no idea what people out there are dealing with. That is why, yesterday, we voted against his damaging jobs tax. Even former supporters such as the chef Tom Kerridge, who endorsed Labour at the election, say that the Budget was “catastrophic.” He built a real business employing young people, unlike this Cabinet of trade union stooges, CV embellishers and an actual fraudster. None of them has ever run a business. Why will the Prime Minister not listen to businesses who are saying his Budget is catastrophic?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  He can try to change the topic as much as he likes, but the public are watching. He owes them an explanation. The country needs conviction politicians, not politicians with convictions. Now, on to an even bigger fraud: the Budget. Last week, the Prime Minister failed to repeat the Chancellor’s pledge of no more borrowing and no more taxes. It is obvious that they are coming back for more. In his manifesto, he committed to making Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7. Does he stand by his own pledge?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The fact is that the Prime Minister has discarded his own Labour leadership promises: he has dropped the five missions he said would define his Government; he has ditched his pledge to make Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7—we left office with the UK as the fastest-growing economy in the G7—and business is saying he has damaged the economy with his Budget. Tomorrow he is going to have an emergency reset, just five months into his premiership, but why should anyone believe a word he says?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am not asking about migration; I am asking about the former Transport Secretary. He never answers any questions, and it looks like he did not ask his Transport Secretary any questions either. The truth is that he appointed a person convicted of fraud to the Cabinet, and the first thing she did was bung hundreds of millions of pounds in pay rises to her trade union friends. Was this not a fraud on the British people?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister clearly did not read his briefing about the EV mandate. The fact is that we changed the date and made it easier for people. Everything he has done has attacked people. The Budget was an attack on farmers, an attack on workers, an attack on pensioners, an attack on the young, and an attack on thousands of charities and businesses across the country. The whole system is broken, and the Prime Minister is making things worse. Everyone is unhappy. Is it not a good thing that the Chancellor is an expert on customer complaints?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  At the CBI conference on Monday, the Chancellor said: “I’m clear…I’m not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes”. I know that telling the truth to the House is important to the Prime Minister, so will he repeat his Chancellor’s pledge now?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  What a load of nonsense. We had a Budget in March this year, and tractors were not blockading the streets of Whitehall afterwards. Let me give the Prime Minister another example of a real business. Following his Budget, the head of McVitie’s said that it was “harder to understand” what the case for investment in the UK was. While the Prime Minister has been “hobnobbing” in Brazil, businesses have been struggling to “digest” his Budget. Is it not the case that the Employment Rights Bill shows that it is not only the “ginger nut” that is causing him problems?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  If the right hon. and learned Gentleman wants to know what Conservatives would do, he should resign and find out. [Hon. Members: “More!”]

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Until then, I am the one asking the questions. There is a petition out there with 2 million people asking the right hon. and learned Gentleman to go. He is the one who does not know how things work. It is not Governments who create growth; it is business. His Minister for Employment, the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Alison McGovern)—I do not see her here—wants more young people in work, but businesses say that they are cutting jobs because of the Chancellor’s Budget. His Deputy Prime Minister’s Employment Rights Bill—she is not here—will stop businesses hiring. That is what they say. The CBI said on Monday that the dots of the Government’s policy do not join up. It is right, isn’t it?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister is not fixing any foundations; he is making everything worse. The whole House will have heard him refuse to repeat the Chancellor’s pledge, a pledge as worthless as the manifesto promises that he is talking about. If he is fixing foundations, why is it that the PMI index shows that business confidence has crashed since the Budget?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The investment for which the Prime Minister is taking the credit was our work. When I was the Business Secretary, we negotiated those deals that he announced. The bottom line, however, is that in all that he has said, he does not seem to care about the young people who will lose their jobs as a result of his Budget. Perhaps he can show concern for the 1,100 people who found out yesterday that they could lose their jobs at Vauxhall’s plant in Luton. While he flies around making unilateral commitments, back at home the real-world effects are businesses closing in Bedfordshire and Basildon. Does he stand by his promise to ban the sale of petrol cars by 2030, even if more jobs will be lost? [Interruption.]

• 25 Nov 2024 · Speaker’s Statement · Hansard source

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  Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. On behalf of the Opposition, I pay tribute to the late John Prescott. Lord Prescott will be remembered for many things: as a committed Member of Parliament for his beloved constituency of Kingston upon Hull East, as a formidable campaigner for the causes he believed in, and for his public service as Deputy Prime Minister. As I said last week, he was a true patriot and had a unique way of connecting with the electorate. Many of us did not know him personally, but his strength of personality was felt. For those of us who came into politics during the new Labour era, our experience of politics was shaped by Lord Prescott. He was a leading figure in making the Labour party under Tony Blair electable, after enduring four consecutive election defeats. In the process of broadening his party’s appeal, he ensured that Labour thought about the needs, values and aspirations of regular people across this country, not just those of a metropolitan elite. He was often underestimated, yet by all accounts he was an intelligent, amusing and relentlessly hard-working man with great political instincts. Although I would doubtless have disagreed with him on many things, I would have loved the opportunity to argue with him about making our country better. In paying tribute to the late Lord Prescott, I express heartfelt condolences on behalf of myself and my party, and I send sincere condolences to his family, his friends and his colleagues.

• 21 Nov 2024 · G20 and COP29 Summits · Hansard source

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  With your permission, Mr Speaker, may I take this opportunity to express heartfelt condolences on my behalf and that of my party on the death of Lord Prescott. He was a titan of British politics in the 1990s, one of this country’s greatest examples of social mobility, and a true patriot—no one who had two Jags could not love this country. We all especially remember that moment when he connected with the electorate during the 2001 general election. Many of us across the country, as well as the public, were very much on his side during that altercation. May he rest in peace. I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statement. As he said, this week marks the 1,000th day of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. Ukraine is in a fight for its survival. The people of Ukraine are in our thoughts daily, but those thoughts must translate into action—action from us and from our allies. I am proud of the last Conservative Government’s contribution to Ukraine: £12 billion-worth of military, humanitarian and economic support; a commitment to spend at least £3 billion a year on military support; and hitting Russia with the largest sanctions package ever imposed on a major economy. I said we would be a constructive Opposition, and I meant it. We will work with the Government to ensure that British support for Ukraine is steadfast and continuing. However, at the G20, the Prime Minister was not able to achieve his goal of getting leaders to double down on support for Ukraine. As Chancellor Scholz said: “It is too little when the G20 cannot find the words to make it clear Russia is responsible.” The Prime Minister’s meeting with the Chinese President has also attracted much interest. A day after his meeting with President Xi, in which the Prime Minister said he wanted a respectful relationship where both countries avoid surprises, 45 pro-democracy campaigners were imprisoned in Hong Kong. I was disappointed not to hear the Prime Minister condemn that at the time. Will he do so now, unequivocally? Will the Prime Minister confirm that he explicitly called for the repeal of the national security law and for an end to Jimmy Lai’s politically motivated trial when he met President Xi? Can he point to any tangible benefits for UK interests from that meeting? COP has not yet concluded, so we do not know what the final impact on the UK will be, but we do know that the Prime Minister’s rush to a further cut in our emissions is yet another example of politicians putting short-term publicity above long-term planning. When will he publish the plans to achieve this new target? Where this Government do the right thing, we will back them; but where they put politics before people, and where they put press releases before practicality, we will hold them to account. It is time for politicians to tell the truth, and it is time for the Prime Minister to provide some substance to back this costly rhetoric. Given how badly things are going at home, I am sure it was a lot easier being in Baku and at the G20, but while the Prime Minister was in Rio de Janeiro, hard-working farmers were protesting outside the gates of Downing Street against his cruel family farm tax. His Government have stoked inflation, and the Budget has caused employers to warn of job losses, price hikes and shop closures due to Labour’s jobs tax. He needs to show that what he is doing abroad is in the interests of this country and making lives better. That is why I welcome the Prime Minister’s continuation of FTA negotiations with India. However, beyond the work we started, at the moment the Prime Minister’s foreign policy is a pick and mix of empty platitudes, unilateral commitments that he could have announced at home and dangerous precedents: rushing to give away the Chagos islands, and paying for the privilege; an ill-judged suspension of export licences to Israel, damaging our defence and security industry; and failing to set out a road map for spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, in a world that is becoming yet more dangerous. I hope the Prime Minister is up to the very real and serious challenges posed to our security and prosperity. He has many questions to answer this morning, and I look forward to hearing his response.