Kemi Badenoch calls out three mistakes made by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak | Politics

Kemi Badenoch is to name the three biggest “mistakes” made by recent Tory governments, warning that “generations” of politicians have failed to be honest with voters.

She will launch a scathing attack on “crazy and bad” policies imposed by Labor Chancellor Rachel Reeves and accuse Sir Keir StarmerThe government is “vandalizing” by imposing more controls on university schools.

But she will also speak candidly about the failures of Conservative administrations before last year’s general election, which saw the party thrown from power and reduced to a handful of just 121 MPs, compared to Labour’s 412.

Mistakes included not properly preparing for Brexitby adopting “net zero” green policies and allowing immigration to soar, Ms Badenoch will say.

She will insist: “The public will never trust politicians if we do not accept our mistakes. »

In her first major speech of the year, Ms Badenoch will say: “We announced that we would leave the European Union before, we had a plan for growth outside the EU.

“We passed a law that we were going to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. And only then did we start thinking about how we could get there.

“We announced that we were going to reduce immigration, but it continued to increase.

“These mistakes were made because we told people what they wanted to hear first and then tried to find a solution later.”

Outlining her plan to regain voters’ trust, she will add: “This will stop under my leadership. If we want to turn our country around, we are going to have to say things that are not easy to hear.”

The speech will include a section attacking Labor policies including means-tested winter fuel allowance and the imposition of inheritance tax on family farms.

Ms Badenoch, Tory leader since November last year, will say: “These options have been presented to us time and time again by those responsible, and we have rejected them time and time again because they would harm so many people for so few advantages.

“The chancellor took them because she has no ideas of her own.”

But much of the focus will be on his own party, with comments appearing as criticism of former Conservative prime ministers such as Liz Truss, Boris Johnson And Rishi Sunak.

Ms Badenoch will say: “The Conservative Party has new leadership. »

The conservative leader believes that admitting past mistakes is an essential first step in convincing voters to listen to what she says in the future.

Some Conservative MPs have expressed concern over Ms Badenoch’s reluctance to make substantive new policy announcements.

But she must stick to her plan to “renew” the party, which involves spending the next two years restoring the Conservatives’ credibility before presenting detailed ideas for a future government.

The Conservative leader also hopes voters will recognize the contrast between her outspokenness and the approach taken by “dishonest” Labor.

The nation has become poorer and weaker because politicians have failed to tell the truth, Ms Badenoch will warn.

She will insist: “We are all getting poorer. Politicians from all parties have not told the truth on this matter and continue to prescribe solutions that only make the situation worse.

“This problem goes beyond a single party, a single leader or a single period of government. Generations of leaders and entire ranks of senior executives have tried and failed for a long time.

“Many have not been honest with the public about the challenges we face. And others haven’t even been honest with themselves.

Conservative MPs were buoyed by the unrest in Sir Keir StarmerThe Labor government has been rocked by the resignations of Sir Keir’s chief of staff Sue Gray, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and, this week, Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq.

There was shock when the Chancellor announced she was means-testing winter fuel payments, a policy suggested by Treasury officials to previous Labor ministers as early as 2009 as well as to recent Conservative administrations . Politicians repeatedly rejected the idea because they knew it would be unpopular, until it was adopted by Ms Reeves.

But one Tory MP said: “Labour would like us to be complacent and imagine we are going to return to power, but we know the Tory brand was in tatters in the end, and we have to work to rebuild it. »

A few Conservatives are also concerned about the growing popularity of the Reform Party, led by Nigel Farage. A poll this week by More in Common found that 25% of voters would now support the Conservatives while Labor and Reform are on 24% each.