Kemi Badenoch has attacked the Government’s “cruel family farms tax” as she hit out at the inheritance tax Budget measures in her first Prime Minister’s Questions as Conservative leader.
She also accused ministers of “student” politics and said Sir Keir Starmer was reading from scripted lines in her inaugural session.
Mrs Badenoch claimed that her party would reverse the changes to inheritance tax announced last week, and asked for the Government to “reassure” farmers who are worried about the move.
Addressing the Budget in her questions, the Tory leader said: “We have heard him repeat the lines on the television, ‘fixing the foundations’, and so on.
“What does he say to farmers who are facing uncertainty about their futures as a result of the increased taxes announced by the Chancellor?”
She said that the Conservatives would “reverse Labour’s cruel family farms tax” and asked the PM to “reassure the farming community”.
Moments before she had claimed that the Prime Minister’s “scripted lines are showing that he has not even listened to the Budget himself”.
The Government is caught up in a row over their announcement that agricultural assets worth more than £1 million would no longer be exempt from inheritance tax. Opposition MPs have been calling on ministers to reverse the move which was announced at last week’s Budget.
From April 2026, a tax of 20% would be raised on the value of inherited farming assets above £1 million under the plans.
While this still represents a tax relief of 50% compared with the standard rate, the move has been attacked by farming unions and Opposition critics who have argued it would make the UK more reliant on imports.
Sir Keir responded: “I’m happy to help the leader of the Opposition. If she’s going to complain about scripted answers, it’s probably best not to read that from a script.
“I’m glad she’s raised farmers. Because the budget last week put £5 billion over the next two years into farming. That’s the single biggest increase, unlike the £300 million which was underspent under the last government.
“But when it comes to inheritance, the vast vast majority of farmers will be unaffected, as she well knows; as they well know.”
Mrs Badenoch also took a swipe at the Government’s defence plans, and claimed that the “Budget did not even mention defence”.
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Her official spokesman later said that “If you look at the full context, she was referring to the fact that Labour have not set out their plans to get to 2.5% (of GDP for defence spending) and indeed it’s not just her saying that, the OBR have said significant spending ambitions on defence remain unfunded.”
The Prime Minister’s press secretary had suggested that Mrs Badenoch had been “risking misleading” the House, which Mrs Badenoch’s spokesman did not agree with.
Defence was mentioned in the Budget speech which set out what Rachel Reeves called “a path to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence”.
Sir Keir told Mrs Badenoch that “the one thing I learned as leader of the opposition is it’s a good idea to listen to what the Government is actually saying.”
The exchanges on the Budget came after both Sir Keir and Mrs Badenoch had congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump on his victory, and she took the opportunity to press the Prime Minister on his relationship with the incoming American leader.
Mrs Badenoch asked the Prime Minister to invite the President-elect to speak in Parliament next time he visits the UK, and pointed to the row over Labour activists campaigning for Kamala Harris.
Congratulations President-elect @realDonaldTrump on your historic election victory.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 6, 2024
I look forward to working with you in the years ahead. pic.twitter.com/QYHLd4k4EG
“I’m very sure that President Trump will soon be calling to thank him for sending all of those North London Labour activists to campaign for his opponent,” she told the Commons.
“Given that most of his Cabinet signed a motion to ban President Trump from addressing Parliament, will the Prime Minister show that he and his Government can be more than student politicians by asking you, Mr Speaker, to extend an invitation to President Trump to address Parliament on his next visit?”
In response, the Prime Minister thanked his opposite number for “a masterclass on student politics”.
The Conservative leader had earlier asked the Prime Minister to apologise for previous comments made by his Foreign Secretary David Lammy for comments in which he accused Mr Trump of being “woman-hating Neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”.
Sir Keir told the House: “The Foreign Secretary and I did meet President-elect Trump just a few weeks ago for dinner for about a couple of hours, and we discussed a number of issues of global significance. It was a very constructive exercise.”
Congratulations President-elect @realDonaldTrump on your historic election victory.
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) November 6, 2024
The world faces many serious challenges and I look forward to our two countries working together to confront them.
Mrs Badenoch was flanked by her shadow chancellor Mel Stride and shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel – both of whom were fellow leadership contenders – during the session.
She announced her shadow cabinet earlier this week, and it is thought that Mrs Badenoch had been keen to reach out to wings across the party.
Following PMQs, a number of other shadow ministerial positions were confirmed.
Danny Kruger has been given a position in the work and pensions brief while Wendy Morton, a former chief whip, has a shadow foreign ministerial job.
Gareth Davies is the new shadow financial secretary to the Treasury and Harriet Baldwin is a shadow minister at the Department for Business and Trade.
Meanwhile, Joy Morrisey will be co-shadow deputy chief whip alongside Gagan Mohindra.
