Kemi Badenoch launches Conservatives’ Local Election Campaign

Today [Thursday 19th March 2026] Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, launched our 2026 Local Elections Campaign with a pledge to get Britain working again.

Please see the full text of the speech below:

Checked against delivery

“Hello everyone. Good morning!

What a turnout!

Thank you everyone for being here.

Look around, amazing, this is a party renewed. So many young faces.

There must be a lot of Plan 2 Student Loan holders here!

7 weeks today, people up and down this country are going to be given a choice.

They can choose to vote for one of many parties in Britain, whingeing on and on about what's wrong.

Parties who haven't bothered to do the work to solve any of your problems.

Parties who will cost you more.

Or they can vote for a Party that will actually fix things.

Thank you.

They can vote for a new Conservative Party under new leadership,

The only party with a plan to make life better where you live.

Last week I was in Croydon, there is a Croydon person there, walking down the high street talking to businesses,

Or at least talking to the businesses that were still open after 18 months of Labour.

I spoke to a lady called Mary Coughlin who runs Lucinda's, a lovely independent boutique clothes shop,

A business she has poured her life, her soul, her life savings into.

Mary told me that people are now coming in and stealing entire racks of clothes.

Brazenly, walking in empty handed trying to walk out with armfuls of her stock.

Sometimes she's able to stop them, sometimes. Other times she watches thieves disappearing out of the door with her staff's wages because that's what they are.

She keeps going, she's not going to give up.

But imagine how that feels,

Getting up early, struggling with rising bills, trying to stay afloat,

Paying more and more in taxes to the Labour government, to the Council.

Then someone comes in and steals from you and they just get away with it.

The Conservative Party is on the side of people like Mary.

The Conservative Party is on the side of hard-working people.

On the side of people who contribute to making our country great.

Veterans. Farmers. Builders. Small business

The people creating jobs for us and our children.

The people who pay the taxes that pay our wages.

The Conservative Party is on the side of people who want to get on.

People saving up to buy a home.

Mums and dads trying to build a better life for their children.

These are our people.

And we are fighting for them at this election. In London, In Essex, in Norfolk.

In Solihull, in Lincolnshire, in Plymouth, anywhere that people have a vote.

All of you here know what I'm talking about today. That story about Mary, about shoplifting is all too familiar in Britain today.

Hard working people, doing the right thing, contributing to our country, feeling like they're getting nothing but hassle in return.

The people who break the rules, who are making life worse for everyone else, are not being punished.

No wonder hard working people are asking themselves. Why am I bothering?

No wonder high streets are becoming boarded-up shops and vape stores.

There's graffiti on buildings and on buses driving past,

And the stench of cannabis wafts down our city streets.

Let me tell you this, nothing is going to change unless someone steps up and does something about it.

We are going to do something about it.

We are the only ones who will because Conservatives are the only people with a plan.

We want hard working people to be rewarded for their effort.

That means abolishing Business Rates, so that most pubs, restaurants and high street shops will pay nothing when the Conservatives come back.

It means helping people like Mary out. Getting our high streets working again.

It means our Cheap Power Plan, cutting energy bills for families and businesses.

Helping families to make ends meet, and businesses to make a profit.

It means drilling in the North Sea, getting our own oil and gas out of the ground at a time when global supplies are in peril.

It means scrapping Stamp Duty on family homes.

I know that's a favourite, there was a big cheer for that.

But it does mean getting people moving again. Helping those who want to put down roots and start a family.

We have fully funded plans that will make life better for people tomorrow.

No other party does.

At the same time, we are going to make sure that people who aren't contributing, people making things worse, get what they deserve.

Only 1 in 20 crimes is being solved in Britain today, that is not good enough.

So, we are going to take back our streets.

We will hire 10,000 new police officers, put them on a street corner where you live and tell them their job is to catch criminals.

I've got a message for shoplifters, phone thieves, violent thugs, your days of getting off scott-free are numbered.

We will triple stop and search to take knives and drugs out of the places you live.

We will mandate the police to stop e-bikes being ridden on our pavements, such a nuisance.

We will tell the police that they must stop drugs being smoked openly in public spaces.

Why should people put up with it? They shouldn't.

And they shouldn't have to pay to clean up the mess either.

Our new Immediate Justice sentences would see lawbreakers forced to clean up graffiti, clean up our streets, clean up the mess they make in our parks immediately.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to put the rights of ordinary people ahead of the small minority making life a misery for everyone else.

And we will pay for it by cutting the welfare bill, making sure every person who can work, does work.

Taxpayers are struggling enough without having to pay millions of people to sit at home doing nothing.

Not everyone's going to like this. That's okay.

We are no longer going to try to please everyone all the time.

Some people want more benefits with Labour,

Some people want nationalisation with Nigel Farage,

Some people want bigger boobs with Zack Polanski.

Fine. That's what they want. We've got a better offer.

We're for those who want jobs and opportunity,

Those who want society to judge people based on merit.

That's who we are for.

We can only fix things if we're clear about what we believe.

Labour's problem is that after 14 years in opposition they came in without a single idea of how to fix anything.

They're now having a shadow leadership contest, talking about what the party should stand for nearly two years into government.

We are three weeks into a war in the Middle East and they still can't decide whose side they're on and they can't decide what Britain's role is going to be.

These people have no plan.

Worse still, since Gorton and Denton, they are pandering to separatism.

Instead of building a cohesive national culture, some of their MPs are campaigning to build an airport in Pakistan.

How is that relevant to the area they are meant to represent in this country?

Britain is a tolerant country, but our culture matters. People coming here should expect to join our country, not try and change it.

I want people to know the Conservative Party is not afraid to set out the standards, values, and behaviours Britain expects and we're not afraid to enforce them either.

The only thing Labour seem to have a plan for, is running businesses into the ground and sending unemployment through the roof.

I visited a family business in Godstone this week.

Because of Labour's Jobs Tax they can't afford to hire people and the owners are having to cover three times as many shifts as they used to, so now they can't spend time with their children at the weekend.

This is the real impact of Labour's Jobs Tax.

Not to mention the tens of thousands of people, young people especially, missing out on a start in life unable to support themselves.

And look at what Labour is doing to our councils.

Bin strikes in Birmingham that have lasted twice as long as Peter Mandelson did as our ambassador.

Rubbish piling up. Food rotting in the streets. Rats as big as cats.

Britons, you have been warned. You vote Labour, you get trash.

Not one of the other parties is going to fix your problems.

The Lib Dems can't stand still for 5 minutes without breaking into a conga.

The Greens say yes to crackpipes, and no to NATO.

And look at what Reform have done at Kent County Council.

They came in with a new “DOGE” team, promising to cut people's Council Tax,

Only to find out that Conservatives had already made all the savings, so Reform put Council Tax up.

In Worcestershire they've increased it by 9%!

We don't want to see the chaos Reform have brought to these councils anywhere else.

This is what happens when you make policy without doing your homework.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are serious times.

There's war in Europe with Ukraine fighting for its survival and our freedom, and there's war in the Middle East pushing up prices and threatening our economy.

Our brave servicemen and women are already involved, yet Reform can't even be bothered to appoint a foreign affairs or defence spokesman.

Our country deserves better than that.

Britain's problems can be fixed.

But only by a team who have done the work to figure out how to fix them.

I've got that team.

Let me tell you why I'm optimistic about this country's future.

I'm optimistic because the Conservative Party is coming back.

We are coming back for hard working people up and down this country who need our help.

We are coming back to save them from third-rate people running their government and their councils.

We are coming back to cut their taxes, to clean up the places they live in.

We are coming back and we will Get Britain working again.

So let me leave you with this.

There is only one party that has the courage, the competence, the team to build this at every level of government.

Whether it's a Borough Council, District Council, a County Council,

On 7th May every vote for the Conservatives counts.

In five, six, seven party politics, many elections will come down to fine margins.

Every Councillor we get elected, every Council we run, is somewhere where we can start to deliver our plan.

Somewhere we can keep Council Tax down for struggling families.

Somewhere we can deliver better public services, fix potholes, run better schools.

Somewhere we can back business, back our high streets, and get our villages, towns and cities working again.

Every win is another step on that path.

We have to show people that this is a new Conservative Party.

It's not going to happen overnight,

But it starts by delivering for people, wherever we are given the chance.

There is only one party that can build a stronger economy.

This is only one party that can build a stronger country.

That is the Conservative Party.

I need you to go out there and tell people, up and down the country, in every election,

This is what the Conservative Party stands for.

This is who we are fighting for.

This is how we will deliver.

And together, we will get Britain working again.”