Overview

• In her conference speech, Kemi Badenoch pledges a new rule that at least half of savings from spending cuts will go to reducing the deficit, with the remainder for tax cuts or pro-growth measures.
• She plans to reintroduce subject-level caps on low-earning degree courses, projecting about 100,000 fewer university places a year and roughly £3bn in savings to double the apprenticeship budget from £3bn to £6bn.
• The proposal cites Institute for Fiscal Studies findings that around 30% of students see negative lifetime returns from university and that taxpayers cover more than £7bn annually in unpaid student loans.
• The fiscal stance is presented as a bid to restore Tory credibility after past economic missteps, alongside previously trailed £47bn of cuts to welfare, the civil service and foreign aid.
• Opposition figures attack the plan as lacking credibility, with Labour calling it not worth the paper it is written on, as polling reported by YouGov places the Conservatives third behind Reform UK during a subdued conference.