Osborne lists Tory Brexiteers who ‘stopped him cutting welfare’ in warning to Badenoch

George Osborne says Kemi Badenoch should expect resistance to her plans to cut welfare from within the Conservative Party, based on his experience as chancellor. He argues that Tory figures, rather than Labour or the left, obstructed his efforts, and that internal opposition could make welfare reform difficult if the Conservatives return to government.

Osborne named Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan Smith and Nigel Lawson as opponents of past measures to curb benefits; he also criticised welfare spending rises under Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s governments. Badenoch has proposed saving £36 billion a year through measures including changes to housing and sickness benefits, restoring the two-child limit and ending some benefits for non-UK nationals. The Conservatives say candidates at the next election have signed up to support her plans.