After Nigel Farage’s address on Reform’s tax plans yesterday and Rachel Reeves’s effort to lay the groundwork for the Budget this morning, Kemi Badenoch completed the trifecta of economic speeches this lunchtime. Appearing at the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Conservative leader sought to wrestle back the limelight for her party, as pre-Budget speculation ramps up ahead of 26 November. In the era of multi-party politics, it is no longer good enough for Badenoch to simply bash Labour. With the Tories no longer commanding a monopoly on the right, she must focus her attacks on Reform too.

Badenoch’s chosen battleground today was welfare. After the shambles of the summer, when government backbenches torpedoed Liz Kendall’s proposed savings, the Tory leader feels that this is potentially o

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