Badenoch asks businesses to publicly back Tories 

Kemi Badnoch courted the private sector by promising to reverse tax rises and slating “compliance culture” in an address to the UK’s biggest businesses. 

The Tory leader invoked the adage that they are the “natural party of business,” while requesting her audience “speak up” in support of pro-business policies. 

“Put your name to the cause,” the Tory leader exhorted at the Peel Hunt FTSE 250+ Conference in the Square Mile, where some of the UK’s wealthiest companies congregated on Thursday. 

Tories back business from the back foot

The Conservative leader’s speech is part of her efforts to attract more support and funding amid claims by commentators and political opponents that the party is ‘dying.’

The party celebrated raking in £3.4m in donations in the first quarter of 2025 – outstripping other parties’ funding. They credited Badenoch herself for rallying donors, though it’s likely Conservative sympathisers were spurred into action following the party’s poor performance in recent local elections.

Badenoch acknowledged the disgruntlement amongst her party’s supporters. “It may not have been this bad, but I know you weren’t happy.”

“This time we are not shutting business out, we are bringing you in,” she promised. 

She then cited the business credentials of her cabinet, who “have actually built things.” Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride set up a business in 1987, and Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith was COO of Sky group.

“I’m not a career politician,” the Tory boss said, in a bid to inspire the audience to see her as one of them. Previously, the former Business Secretary underwent a stint in elite private bank Coutts doing wealth management. “You can trust me,” she said. 

She vowed that “when” the Conservatives are elected back into government, they would cut spending without leading to austerity. 

‘Labour hate business’

Badenoch took a swing at increased regulation, criticising “compliance culture” for being “boring” and consisting of “pointless box ticking that warped business to serve government instead of servicing customers.”

She suggested the private sector was keeping the UK’s welfare system afloat. “We have 28m private sector workers supporting 28m others,” including retirees, public sector workers, and those “simply not working.” 

A number of those include the disabled and ill.

She contrasted the government with her own ranks. “They think business hoards wealth and doesn’t create it, they think it is greedy and needs to be taxed more and more.”

For Badenoch, the government’s faults include: “increasing taxes that don’t raise revenue but do real, serious harm,” like the reforms to the inheritance tax – which she promised to reverse – the workers’ rights bill, and political short-sightedness.

She also criticised the Labour party’s decision to hike VAT on private schools, which Badenoch claimed was intended “to spite the rich,” in addition to policies resulting in the exodus of the UK’s wealthiest.

Labour creating a ‘zero-risk environment’

The government is creating a “zero risk environment” that is hammering growth, Kemi Badenoch has said, as she called on Labour to slash red tape.

“Government is saying ‘no you can’t do this, you can’t do that’”, Badenoch said.

“It is creating a zero risk environment – we cannot have zero risk.

“I see it as an MP each day – someone stands up, says ‘I’ve got a great idea, the constituent came in and said something bad happened to them so let’s bring in a new rule so that the bad thing never happens again.’

“Yes, that might be right to a point, but the law of diminishing returns kicks in – and now we have so much regulation for stopping anything from happening.
“You look at the regulators, it’s zero risk.”

Badenoch vowed to “slash pointless regulation that drives up costs, and end the constant reporting burdens that waste your time.”

The Conservative leader said transaction taxes such as stamp duty were “an issue” but stopped short of calling for them to be scrapped.

The remarks add further pressure to the government to speed up its expressed commitment to soften the regulatory burden on businesses.

Writing in Morning Wire, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Successive governments have shied away from this task, and instead layered regulation upon regulation on companies and investors, increasing complexity and cost. 

“Sensible and proportionate rules are essential for a dynamic economy. But Britain today is a harder place to do business that it was a decade ago, and I’m determined to change that.”