Kemi Badenoch: To be ready for next year’s elections we are going to review this year’s and build back stronger

Kemi Badenoch is leader of the Conservative Party and MP for North West Essex.

Although we knew the recent local elections would be very difficult, coming off a high from the 2021 vote and just nine months after our worst General Election performance ever, the truth is that the results were still very tough to take.

I’m deeply sorry to all the excellent Conservative councillors who worked so hard for their local areas and who lost their seats through no fault of their own. They paid the price for a party in Westminster that lost its way over many years and lost the trust of the voters.

Throughout the leadership contest, and my early months as leader, I have spoken of the importance of not allowing ourselves to be blown off course by events, or pushed into making short-term announcements that make it seem like we haven’t learnt our lesson.

The pace of politics has changed and the political landscape with it. The electorate are frustrated with mainstream politics, and Reform and the Lib Dems are on the rise. But we cannot be complacent and expect the voters to come back to us.  The Conservative Party must absolutely earn its place in the future, not assume things will just return to where we were before.

The first thing we must do is listen and learn. Too many good councillors were lost, and too much good work didn’t bear fruit, for us to just move onto the next thing quickly.  To stand any chance of future success, we must know what was effective, what wasn’t and what we need to change.

To that end, I am today announcing a rapid review of the activities, communications, campaigning and strategy around the local government elections 2025, to ensure that the party learns the lessons as quickly as possible so we can implement those lessons in time for the next contests.

I’ve asked key people, from across the party, to lead the review; Nigel Huddleston, our Co-Chairman with responsibility for Campaigning; Kevin Hollinrake, our Shadow Secretary of State for Communities, and top local campaigner Matt Vickers, will support the review on behalf of CCHQ, the Shadow Cabinet and the parliamentary party.

Cllr John Cope, Chairman of the Conservative Councillors Association, will represent our councillors.  John Belsey, Vice President of the National Convention, will ensure the voluntary party is represented.  In addition, our newly appointed Chairman of the Candidates Committee, Clare Hambro, will bring her knowledge and expertise to bear in terms of how we find the best representatives for the future.

They will examine the 2025 local elections results, the activities undertaken by the Party at both local and national level, our performance in the various geographical areas of the country, the involvement of the different stakeholders that comprise the Conservative Party family, such as the Professional, Voluntary and Parliamentary elements, and the ‘Candidate Journey’ – from recruitment and selection to declaration of results.

Although the panel will lead this review, they will not do this alone. I want every single Conservative Party member, volunteer councillor, candidate, MP and Peer to get involved. You will all have thoughts on what can be improved and what we should do less/more of, and we want to hear it.  The team will be on the road, virtually and physically, over the coming weeks ahead to hear your views and what you think we should have done better.

And we will also do this quickly.  To ensure that we build for the 2026 elections, there isn’t a day to waste.  I have asked the team to do their review rapidly and to report back to me by the end of June.

As an engineer by trade, I start by defining what isn’t working, identifying the cause of the problems and learning the lessons from our best performing associations and campaigns. We have already started the work to improve from the day after the election – but the key is now to make sure we are on the right track and to ensure that the plan draws upon the experiences of everyone.

Of course, are plenty of pound-shop commentators and weathervane pundits ready to write off the Conservative Party.

But we’ve been here before, and we’ve always come back stronger.  I still remember the bad set of local elections in May 2019, swiftly followed by the European elections later that month where we polled just under 9 per cent. It felt like our time in government was over. Yet Boris pulled out a historic majority that same year.

If we are to make this year the point from when we rise again, and the latest case study in the Conservative Party bouncing back from a historic low, then we need to forge a new determination in this time of adversity.

Conservatism matters for our country.

As your leader, I promise to do so from the front, tackling these challenges with honesty and commitment. Together, we’ll navigate this new political landscape and start to build a conservative inheritance for the next generation.