Editorial: Kemi Badenoch's assured response to the Budget shows the Tories can't be written off

​Kemi Badenoch may have had a shaky start as Tory leader – but her response to the government’s disastrous budget showed that neither she, nor her party, can be written off.​

The opposition leader’s performance was perhaps her most assured yet – shredding Rachel Reeves’s economic record and ability to do the job.

Her jibe that the Labour minister had delivered a ‘budget for Benefits Street’ will resonate with workers and put clear blue water between her and Reform UK – whose leader has backed scrapping the two child benefits cap.

To continue to expand the welfare state – particularly with the nation’s finances in such a perilous state – is both irresponsible and morally wrong.

As Mrs Badenoch pointed out – it will be British workers who will be paying for benefits handouts. Yet her party is almost alone in the Commons in challenging the idea of growing the already ballooning welfare state.

Nigel Farage earlier this year backed scrapping the two child benefit cap – claiming the plans were costed, and that Reform is opposed to benefits culture. It is naive to think that expanding the welfare state doesn’t fuel a culture of dependency – or that it won’t be abused by those with no intention of working.

There is no doubt that previous Tory governments contributed greatly to the mess that the UK is in. But there are signs that the party is serious about taking on issues such as welfare.

Locally, Alex Burghart – Mrs Badenoch’s effective deputy – is making the right noises on issues such as legacy. He writes in today’s News Letter (to read the article, click here) giving a damning rebuttal of Labour’s new Troubles law. Contrast that to Reform’s flip-flopping on how it would deal with NI in the event of the UK quitting the ECHR.

With a general election likely still years away, Kemi Badenoch has time to prove herself as a serious force in UK politics.