Kemi Badenoch’s speech to Welsh Conservatives Conference

Today [Friday 16^th May 2025] the Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch MP spoke at the Welsh Conservatives Conference.

"I'm glad to be here today.

Because Wales is where our fight back begins.

Because what happens here matters.

Let's be honest - we cannot win a general election without winning seats in Wales.

And the last time I was here, I talked about the devastating election results that we had last year.

The worst in our history.

We lost all of our MPs in Wales, good friends and colleagues like TC Davies, who I know is here today, and then the local elections in England two weeks ago shows that we are not yet out of the woods.

We have been punished for managing instead of leading, for losing sight of why we're Conservatives in the first place, and we need to remember that now more than ever, because politics is changing.

It is more volatile than ever, it is more polarised than ever and we cannot keep doing the same thing and hope that it works.

And that's not just here in the UK.

Look at what happened in Canada.

I met the leader of the opposition, the leader the Conservative Party in Canada in December. He was 23 points ahead in the polls. Two weeks ago, he lost his seat at the election.

The same thing was expected of the leader of the Liberal Party, our sister party in Australia, expected to win the election. Lost it, lost his seat.

Something is changing in the whole world. We are moving away from the politics of the economy to the politics of identity.

Why is it that, despite repeated failures by Labour in Wales, they still did well year after year after year.

Why?

It's because they've always been able to blame someone else.

“It's not our fault, it's those Conservatives. They're not giving us any money.”

No agency, no responsibility, endless complaints, unable to deliver. But now, with a Labour government failing on the economy, they have nowhere to hide.

But it's not Conservatives benefiting. It's Plaid. It's Reform. It's the politics of identity that they are playing, and we need to fight back.

And it has to start here. Wales is where Labour's promises meet reality and fail.

That's why we need to seize the moment to make sure that we deliver excellent results in 2026.

We have a year, there are no excuses. We need to start taking this country where it needs to go.

And all of you here know it better than anyone.

This is not just a political fight. It is a fight for our children's futures.

It is a fight for the future of the Union.

A fight for whether Britain slides further into decline or rises again.

We can rise again.

We can fix Wales.

But only if we face facts and then face forwards.

Conservative values still matter.

Our country still needs us.

But the path back will take time. There will be setbacks.

But I am here to remind you that conservatism is worth fighting for.

People want to write us off.

They want to say that we're out of the game because they forget that we are a party based on values.

What we stand for must never, ever be lost. We stand for patriotism, for hard work, for responsibility, for freedom.

That is worth fighting for.

And let's be clear, Reform is not the answer.

Labour is not answer.

Liberal Democrats are not the answer.

Plaid are not the answer, because they don't believe in Conservative ideas.

We are the answer because we do.

All these other parties are a flavour of the same thing.

They tell people what they think they want to hear, because they're trying to help themselves.

They do what they can to get elected with no plan.

That is what I see here in Wales.

No plan.

The Labour government that we have nationally had a plan for the election, had no plan for government.

They are completely at sea.

Snatching winter fuel payment from pensioners, taxing farmers cruelly, crushing small business.

None of them have ever worked in a business.

They don't know how anything works. It's just shouting.

And when the shouting's over, there's nothing underneath.

We have seen this nowhere more than in Wales.

Just look at the record of Labour.

The longest NHS waiting times in the UK.

The worst literacy outcomes in Britain.

Billions wasted. Infrastructure blocked.

A 20 mile per hour blanket speed limit that costing the Welsh economy.

This is in theory, this is what 25 years of Labour failure looks like.

They get more money than ever and deliver less.

We all know it's not about funding.

It's about priorities and theirs are all wrong.

We are tired of their endless complaints and their endless excuses.

This is why Welsh conservatism matters.

The Welsh Conservative team here matters because they are the only ones who will do things differently.

We will bring in free schools and academies.

We will give headteachers the freedom to lead.

We will restore discipline.

We will raise standards.

We will give every child a chance.

We will scrap the pointless Senedd expansion.

No one is asking for more politicians.

No more jobs for the boys.

No more constitutional navel gazing.

No more time wasting.

Let's fix Wales.

Better schools, shorter waiting lists, real economic growth.

And we will rebuild the Union and stop apologising for it.

We are not here to divide Britain, we are not here to wind it down, the way Labour is winding businesses down.

We are here to make it strong again.

Because Wales doesn't need separation, it needs aspiration.

Wales needs growth, infrastructure improvements too, just like the last government started.

And when we return to government, and we will, Darren, Mims, Olivia, the whole Welsh team will be working to ensure that those key infrastructure upgrades are given priority.

They can't just be nice to have.

We need to show people that there is a future worth fighting for.

We need show them that we are optimistic, that we can give them hope.

We need to show that we are the serious party of government.

That we are the only credible alternative.

The only ones who can build the serious growth that Wales needs.

Darren Miller and Mims Davies are leading that charge, and I will stand with them, just as I'll stand with every single one of you, ready to fight for real change.

But my goodness, we have one hell of a job to do.

I have a job to do.

The responsibility is on me.

I know that we are bruised, but we are not beaten.

This party carries a message that is worth fighting for.

Not slogans, not short-term gimmicks, real deep lasting change built on conservative principles.

So let us lift our heads.

Let us get back to work.

Let's prove to the people of Wales and to the whole of the UK, that the future doesn't belong to Labour or to Reform, it belongs to us, if we have the courage to fight for it.

So let me finish, ladies and gentlemen, with the words of Ronald Reagan, who knew what it was like to lead a party out of the wilderness.

''We may be fewer in number than we've ever been, but we are the ones who carry the message that they are waiting for, and there is no substitute for victory.''

So let us take that to heart, let us stand together, and let's go out and win again, for our party, for our country, and for our children.

Thank you."