Sir James Cleverly hit out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s housing record in a speech at Tory conference.

The shadow housing secretary compared the 0.5 houses per 1,000 people built inside the south-east of England last year with the 2.5 houses per 1,000 people built outside the region over the same period.

Sir James said: “(Mr) Khan’s failure ends up by dumping that housing shortfall on rural Britain.”

He continued: “I never want to force anyone to leave a home that they love but we should make it much easier for older couples to downsize without punishing them with ever more property tax, because encouraging downsizing frees up a whole chain of homes, helping the retirees and bigger families and smaller families and first time buyers all at the same time.

“That is just common sense, and that is what should underpin Conservative housing policy, common sense, easing the burden of regulation, getting stuff built, easing counterproductive taxation that stops homes being bought and sold.”

Veteran Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell has called for his party to work with Reform UK.

Asked if he was thinking of defecting to the insurgent party, he told GB News: “So, what I want is the right of centre in British politics to come together. Our electoral system can’t accommodate two parties that are broadly conservative.

“That means a divide in the vote and the calamity of another Labour government for five years, or even worse, a Labour government propped up by Liberal Democrats, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SNP, fruit and nut, and whoever else is around to prop Keir Starmer up in office. No, thank you.

“I would much rather see people of like mind on the right of centre to work together. Now, Margaret Thatcher, when she was our leader, we had nothing, no party like Reform. That’s because everybody that’s in Reform today pretty much would have been part of the Conservative Party.

“So I think we need to get everyone working together to rescue our country from the disaster of this left-wing socialist government.”

Half of Tory members do not think Kemi Badenoch should lead the party into the next general election, new polling shows.

The YouGov survey for Sky News found 50% say the current Conservative leader should not stay in place, while 46% said she should.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick is the favourite to replace Mrs Badenoch as party leader, with 37% saying they would support his leadership bid.

The polling of 652 Conservative members also reveals that 46% would support the idea of a merger with Reform UK, meanwhile 48% oppose it.

James Cleverly, Shadow Housing Secretary, said he was disappointed not to go head-to-head with Angela Rayner.

Ms Rayner resigned as Housing Secretary last month over a tax saga.

Shadow culture secretary Nigel Huddleston on stage during the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex.

Labour is “punishing” motorists with policies that are trying to discourage driving, shadow transport secretary Richard Holden said.

Mr Holden told the Conservative Party conference the Tories had retained their opposition to Labour’s 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars.

He indicated that the Tories would revoke subsidies for electric cars produced outside the UK.

He said: “It’s not just that Labour doesn’t care about our road networks or the drivers who use them, it’s that Labour are actively punishing motorists at every turn in our country.”

He told the event that the Tories would end an apparent “cyclist-first ideology”.

He said: “Conservatives are on the side of freedom, freedom to go about your business in a pleasant and safe environment and travel how you want.

“That has to be what we’re aiming for as Conservatives every single step of the way; pragmatic, practical solutions to make easier, life easier every day, not more red tape, more taxes, more rules and regulations.

“Our approach is centered around motorists, passengers and taxpayers, and against those more interested in restricting freedoms and stopping new infrastructure.”

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has warned that the state pension triple lock is “simply not sustainable over the next 20 or 30 years”.

Speaking at a fringe event at the party conference in Manchester, he compared the UK economy to a “Ponzi system”.

He argued it is geared towards older people and that the Conservatives are driving away youngsters by defending the triple lock.

Mr Tugendhat said: “This is a logical series of outcomes for an economic system that has effectively become a Ponzi system for the old.

“That is what people are choosing against, and that is the revolution that we are seeing in politics.”

He added that the impact of this system was visible in the way “we are still defending the triple lock when it is simply not sustainable over the next 20 or 30 years in a way that means it is in any way applicable to anybody under the age of 50.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said the Conservatives would stop turning people into “victims” with welfare reforms if it got into power.

Ms Whately told the Conservative Party conference in Manchester British citizens should be at the front of the queue for benefits payments.

She said: “I’ve got my common-sense plan for welfare savings: Fix a sick note system, bring back face-to-face assessments, end sickness benefits for low-level mental health problems, stop the abuse of Motability, and put British citizens first in our benefit system. Just living here is not a reason to get money from taxpayers.”

She added: “We will change our sickness benefit system so it helps those who really need help, and stops turning people into victims.

“We will make the benefits cap do what it should, so that families on benefits aren’t better off than those in work, and we’ll tackle a massive hike in housing benefit.

“All that gives you billions of savings off the benefits bill, savings that can help us balance the country’s books and money to help people into work, because this isn’t just about savings, it’s about turning people’s lives around, and for us to succeed as a country, we need everyone to put their shoulder to the wheel.

“It’s time to return to the conservative principles we know are the secret of our country’s success, personal responsibility, aspiration, fairness, real compassion, living within our means.”

The Conservatives would reverse Labour’s workers’ rights overhaul that was spearheaded by former deputy PM Angela Rayner, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith has said.

Mr Griffith told the party’s conference in Manchester the Tories would repeal the Employment Rights Bill, which it has voted against in Parliament, because it would “destroy” job opportunities for young people.

The Tories will also “look again” at how to reform the IR35 tax system for contractors, and repeal EU-era rules on opening a business bank account.

He said: “There are far too many hurdles for small businesses to jump; red tape that steals away the precious time of those who run them.”

Former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost called on the Conservatives to do four things to turn around the party’s fortunes.

He told a fringe event: “We need to create a proper mainstream Conservative Party which means moving to the right on policy and trying to appeal to some extent to our left on grounds of competence, difficult though that’s going to be, and to an extent on self-interest.

“First of all, we have to not just apologise, we have to be clear about what the margins of the party are. What are the boundaries of being in the Conservative Party and what does conservatism mean? And if you don’t like that then you can’t be in the party. That is the test for membership.

“Second, set out a conservative programme. Nationhood, rebuilding the institutions of the country, getting control of the borders, market reform, getting the size of the state down.

Third, communication. We’ve really got to explain what we’re doing much better than we are.

“Fourth, I know this may be unpopular here but we need to stop rubbishing Reform or at least stop rubbishing people who vote for Reform. We too often look to the country like we’ve got some sort of right to votes on the right, we look entitled.

“Largely people who vote for Reform are conservatives, they’re on the right. If we want to rebuild the right we aren’t going to do it by rubbishing them, we need to rebuild and reach out. I’m not convinced any of these things are actually going to be done I’m afraid which is a reason why I’m rather negative.”

Tory peer Lord Frost warned that the Conservatives are being “far too positive” at their annual conference.

He told a fringe event on the future of the right of British politics: “The mood at this conference so far is far too positive and I think we need to be honest about the situation we find ourselves in.

“We’ve got to start acknowledging the terrible mess we’re in. In 2019 we got 14 million votes, in 2024 we got 6.8 million. About half of those went to Reform, another two to three million abstained, one to two million went to Labour.

“Now we’ve got about 4.5 million voters, we’ve lost 10 million voters since the 2019 election. This is an appalling situation for a mainstream party.”

Kemi Badenoch and her Conservative colleagues have announced a swathe of bold policies that might at last start to win over wavering voters.

Over the past year, Kemi’s critics have complained that she’s been too slow to set out big ideas – and let Nigel Farage make all the running.

But she’s making up for it, at the Tory party conference in Manchester.

Read the analysis by Jonathan Walker here

Senior Conservative Robert Jenrick has opened a potential rift with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch by refusing to rule out a pact with Nigel Farage and Reform UK.

Ms Badenoch has repeatedly rejected calls to “unite the right” by working with Mr Farage to ensure Labour lose the next general election. The Reform leader has also opposed a pact.

Read the full piece here

Around one in six people on universal credit in Britain are estimated to be foreign nationals, although this includes EU citizens who had settled long-term in the country before Brexit.

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride announced on Monday that the Conservatives would restrict benefits to UK citizens if the party wins the next general election, though he added that EU nationals with settled status would continue to be eligible for payments.

Universal credit is the main social security benefit in the UK and is intended to help with living costs for those on a low income or out of work.

A total of eight million people across England, Scotland and Wales were receiving universal credit (UC) as of July 2025, up from 6.9 million a year earlier, according to the latest available figures from the Department for Work & Pensions.

The vast majority of current claimants are people who live or work in the UK without any immigration restrictions: British and Irish nationals, plus those who have right of abode in the country, which includes some Commonwealth citizens.

Some 6.7 million people were in this category in July, making up 83.8% of all claimants.

This is a slightly higher proportion than a year earlier (82.5%).

Household energy bills would be cut by £165 under policies introduced by a Conservative government, Tories have said.

Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho pledged to slash prices and scrap the “climate targets” championed by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Read the full story here

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has a 58% change of being ousted before Sir Keir Starmer, according to Star Sports.

Political betting analyst William Kedjanyi said: “It’s touch and go as to how long Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch will both be in their positions as tensions rise in their respective parties, but Badenoch is shorter in the market to be replaced first.

“The Conservative leader is odds-on at 8/11 to be replaced as party leader first, with Starmer not far off at 11/10. We’ve made it 2/1 for them both to survive 2026 and both still be at the helm, however, should they not have such luck, we make it just 3/1 for both to be replaced next year.

“In terms of potential replacements, it’s Robert Jenrick who seems the overwhelming favourite to take over the reins from Badenoch as Tory leader at 6/5, whilst Starmer’s replacement looks more uncertain, with Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham currently occupying top spot at 10/3.”

Responding to the shadow chancellor’s speech at the Conservative Party conference, a Labour spokesperson said: “Mel Stride’s supposed savings plan has already fallen apart hours after being announced.

“The Conservatives claimed they would state how they’d pay for their policies, yet made a multibillion-pound pledge to abolish business rates without saying how they’d fund it.

“It’s the same old Tories with the same old policies. They didn’t work then and you can’t trust them now.”

Have your say on whether the Conservatives can catch up with Reform UK in our poll here.

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said the Tories will focus on food production if they win the next general election.

She told a rally at the party’s conference: “I have been frank. We got some things right in government and we got some things wrong. We did a lot of good in farming and environmental policy about which we can rightly be proud.

“But we lost our focus for a while on the primary purpose of farming; to grow food. That changes now. Food production and food security will be at the heart of Conservative agricultural and environmental policy.”

She added: “This system of 34 quangos that regulate our land, our water and our food led by Natural England and the Environment Agency is outdated, and now seems to work against rural communities, not for them.

“It is a system built on the best of intentions, but it has morphed into a labyrinth of bureaucracy. A farmer told me last week it feels as though the system of Natural England and the Environment Agency is designed to trip you up, not help you.”

Victoria Atkins told a rally at Tory conference that there is a “food and farming emergency”.

She said: “If this emergency is not dealt with urgently, we will see even more farms, even more agribusinesses, food and drink manufacturers and hospitality businesses closing. We will see workers laid off. We will see tenant farmers evicted. We will see food production tumble and we will see food prices continuing to rise.

“I hate to break it to you, but Labour is coming back for more in their Budget, and so we need to act fast, and act together.”

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins warned that farmers “won’t forget” Labour’s inheritance tax raid.

She wore a Union flag blazer and stood in front of a JCB tractor as she gave a rally at the Tory’s conference in Manchester.

She said: “These people’s lives and dreams have been shattered by this Government. Farmers won’t forget and neither will we.

“It is shameful, it is enraging, it is an assault on the countryside. We will not stand for it and we will not back down.”

Reform UK has promised “nationalisations we can’t afford” and “more debt for our children”, the shadow energy secretary has warned.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Claire Coutinho said: “Reform, I’m afraid to say, have the economic policies of Jeremy Corbyn.

“They’re promising nationalisations we can’t afford, more tax for more welfare, more spending, which means more borrowing, which means more debt for our children.

“If Government is here to serve the liberties of the people, that means allowing them to keep more of the money that they earn.”

Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho warned that net zero has “become a religion” and “is not working for Britain and it’s not working for the climate”.

She told the Tory conference: “The British people are no stranger to sacrifice for a just cause, but watching good jobs move abroad is not just.

“Piling more pain onto people’s bills is not just. And passing down a country that is less secure and less prosperous is not just.

“For too many people, net zero has become a religion, and for too long we were an unthinking part of the congregation.

“Here’s the problem with the legislation: we know it’s not working for climate change, but it’s also forcing ministers to make decisions that make people poorer.”

Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho has said a future Tory government would scrap the ban on new oil and gas licences, reverse the energy profits levy and start drilling in the North Sea again.

She told Conservative Party conference: “Ed Miliband’s plan to ban new drilling would make us the only country in the world shutting down our own energy supplies, with up to 200,000 jobs and £12 billion in tax revenue lost.

“Why? So that we can import more gas from Norway, from the same field that we could drill ourselves.

“Our imports of liquefied gas are soaring by over 40% per single year. So, conference, I can tell you this: as long as we need gas, as much as possible should come from Britain.

“That’s why we will scrap Ed’s mad ban on new oil and gas licences, we will reverse the energy profits levy and we will back the North Sea.

“We’ll remember what has been forgotten for too long: energy is prosperity.”

The Conservatives will abolish business rates for high street shops and pubs if they win the next election, Sir Mel Stride announced.

The shadow chancellor told the Tory conference: “Under Labour, many have seen their business rates double.

“We need to get business rates down. In fact, we need to go further – much, much further.

“So, today I can announce that as a direct result of getting public spending under control, a future Conservative government will completely abolish business rates for shops and pubs on our high streets.

“End of. End of, finished, gone.”

The Conservatives would bring down taxes “when it is affordable” under plans to cut nearly £50 billion of spending if it came back into government, Sir Mel Stride said.

He said the party would never again make fiscal commitments without spelling out how to pay for them after Liz Truss’s mini budget.

The shadow chancellor said his party would stop “pouring money” into asylum hotels and cut back the aid budget and Civil Service as well as stopping spending on Ed Miliband’s “vanity projects”.

“The culture of something for nothing must end now,” Sir Mel said of plans he claimed would reduce the welfare bill by £23 billion.

“Now, I am a realist and we must recognise that this Labour Government will be leaving huge debts behind.

“So, I cannot simply say we will use all of those savings to spend more elsewhere, or to cut taxes.

“We will bring taxes down. We must, but we will only do so when it is affordable, just as Nigel Lawson did, because we know where the alternative path leads.

“We saw that with a mini budget in 2022, so let me be clear: the Conservative Party will never, ever make fiscal commitments without spelling out exactly how they will be paid for.”

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said that businesses need hope as he set out what he said was a “radical plan to rebuild our economy” in his speech to the Conservative party conference.

Sir Mel said the Tories would “always be there” for business.

He said: “The first thing we need is hope in a world of great uncertainty, of a failing government and a populist alternative that is totally detached from reality.

“It is our party that has to provide it, not in the way of glib words, but in the deep well of thought that will provide the solutions to our many problems.

“In short, hope can only come with a plan – a radical plan to rebuild our economy and today I want to tell you how we will do it together.”

The Conservatives remain “firmly committed” to the state pension triple lock, Sir Mel Stride has said.

Asked whether the party would look to make savings on age-related spending such as pensions, the shadow chancellor said: “We remain firmly committed to the triple lock.

“However, what I am saying today is that the savings that we’re presenting today are a down payment.

“We have a long period now between now and the next general election and, of course, we will be looking at all areas of government in terms of where other savings are.

“But I do need to be very clear that when it comes to the triple lock we are standing by the triple lock.”

Asked if the spending cuts he was proposing today were necessary to pay for the triple lock, Sir Mel added: “You have to make savings in order to get the debt down, in order to get taxes down, and in order to fund spending in other areas, and everything has to add up in a fiscally responsible manner.”

The Conservatives need to “hold our nerve”, Sir Mel Stride said amid the party’s polling woes.

Asked about comments by polling guru Sir John Curtice suggesting the Lib Dems could win more seats than the Tories, the shadow chancellor said: “We’re four years from an election. Anybody who attempts to predict what will happen in four years’ time is being pretty brave.

“If you were interviewing me in 2019 and I was a socialist, you’d be saying: ‘Mel Stride, you’ve had the worst result for the Labour Party since the 1930s, you’re never going to get back into office.’

“And look what happened five years later. All things are possible.

“And what we’ve got to do is hold our nerve and, as we are at this conference, come forward with credible, bold, relevant policies, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

The big speech will come from Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride this morning, but other shadow cabinet ministers are also speaking.

Watch out for Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho talking about plans to ditch the UK’s current commitment to reach “net zero” carbon emissions, which critics blame for pushing up energy bills, and Shadow Housing Secretary Sir James Cleverly setting out plans to fix the housing shortage.

Here’s the timetable:

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride (10am)

Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho (10.30am)

Shadow Technology Secretary Julia Lopez (10.55am)

Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins (11.30am)

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith (2pm)

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately (2.25pm)

Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden (2.50pm)

Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston (3.15pm)

Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly (3.40pm)

Rising Tory star Katie Lam has refused to deny ambitions to be Tory Party leader.

Being probed at a Politico event this morning, the immigration hardliner notably dodged the question after a recent Guardian article asked if she will be next to fill the top job.

She replied: “I know it sounds like a naff answer but I am very very ambitious for the country. I really really think that this country that I love is in a really tough spot, and it’s been in a tough spot for quite a while.

“The reason I do what I do and dedicating my career and life to turning it around is because I believe that we can do a lot better than this.”

“The party’s in a tough place, and what’s incumbent on all of us is to work really hard to win back trust and credibility with the public and I think lots of internal posturing does the opposite.”

The Conservatives will be the “grown-up” party of fiscal responsibility, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride has said ahead of his speech to Tory conference.

He told Sky News: “For far too long, our country has been living beyond its means.

“We’ve got a huge amount of debt, huge servicing costs on that debt and a trajectory for our economy that, I’m afraid, is unsustainable.

“Whilst the other parties are either busy messing the economy up, which is what Labour is doing, or fantasy economics from Reform, we have to be that grown-up party that sets out its stall around fiscal responsibility.”

Kemi Badenoch has torn into Keir Starmer for losing restraint on the economy “because he can’t stand up to his hard-left MPs”.

She points out he’s added £100bn in new spending since coming to power, “with more tax rises on the way to cover for his bad choices”.

The Tory leader says only the Conservatives have the backbone to “do what Labour can’t: live within our means again”.

Mel Stride told the Today Programme that there is “no more pretending we can keep spending money we simply do not have”.

He warns Britain will “end up in a pretty dark place” if the country keeps on “behaving like we are”.

Sir Mel Stride will set out plans to slash £47 billion of Government spending in his speech to the Tory conference today.

The shadow chancellor is expected to outline proposals to cut the welfare bill, foreign aid and the Civil Service if his party wins the next election.

Sir Mel is expected to say: “We’re the only party that gets it. The only party that will stand up for fiscal responsibility.

“We must get on top of government spending. We cannot deliver stability unless we live within our means.”