Call it tough love, with the love removed: it’s Kemi’s war on benefits claimants

Kemi Badenoch and shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately restated the Conservatives’ plan to cut £36.1bn from welfare spending, arguing that the system should encourage more people to work. The proposal matters because it would reshape support for disabled people and others receiving benefits, although the article says opposition-party costings are not widely treated as reliable.

The speech included exceptions for people who are terminally ill and those past retirement age, while Badenoch presented the wider changes as a wake-up call for other claimants. The article notes that the same £36bn savings figure had been announced at the party conference the previous month, and uses a satirical tone to criticise the assumptions behind the plans and the audience’s circumstances.