Kemi Delivers Scottish Tory Conference Speech – Guido Fawkes

Kemi Badenoch is up in Edinburgh to deliver a keynote speech at Scottish Conservative conference on net zero. She’ll call for the windfall tax for fossil fuel firms to be scrapped as well as and end to the ban on new oil and gas licences. She’s already said net zero by 2050 is impossible…

Read her speech in full below:

“It’s great to be here in Edinburgh for my first Scottish conference as leader of our Conservative and Unionist Party.

When Russell and I were elected as party leaders last year, just a few weeks apart, we both knew the scale of the challenges that faced us.

And we both know how important it is to reassert our Conservative principles.

What does it mean to be a Conservative in Scotland today?

It is more than our fundamental belief in the Union. It is to know that our values of personal responsibility sound money a strong work ethic and respect for the rule of law – the values of most British people are the only way to leave a real inheritance for the next generation.

Ladies and gentlemen, you know this, I know this. No other party offers this unique combination.

It is the only combination of values that will deliver for our country.

We have seen Scotland decline under the rule of left-wing parties that stokes division and the politics of envy.

Just look at the picture today.

On the SNP’s watch we have seen Scotland’s education standards fall to record lows, with PISA scores dropping for maths, science, and reading.

Our children are not getting the education they deserve.

We have seen the number of police officers at the lowest they have been since 2008.

They’ve fallen to such low levels that the General Secretary of the Scotland Police Federation warned ‘people may die’ because of cuts to police numbers.

And we see NHS recovery lagging behind England. In fact, the number of patients waiting more than 104 weeks for treatment in Scottish hospitals is almost 100 times higher than in England.

While, the SNP has presided over falling standards in education, healthcare, and shocking levels of drug deaths. What have they been focused on?

Last year marked ten years since the independence referendum, but the SNP remains obsessed with breaking up our country. That’s what they are focused on.

They are wasting millions on independence propaganda publishing papers with nonsense claims about NATO, the EU, and nuclear weapons.

They are wasting millions on failed ferry projects that are eight years late.

They introduced hate crime laws jeopardised free speech.

And of course – they were putting rapists in women’s prisons until the Conservative government stopped them.

This year, we saw the SNP suffer yet another loss in the Supreme Court, because instead of sorting out Scotland, they were trying to redefine what a woman is. This is a not a party that is focused on what people in Scotland need.

So, we need to bring about their electoral defeat. Because the Scottish people deserve better.

And Russell stands out at Holyrood because he’s not part of the cosy left-wing consensus of the SNP and Labour and the Greens.

Russell spent a whole career before politics as a journalist standing up for victims, taking on organised crime, and holding the powerful to account. He reported on gangs, even faced an acid attack, and his investigation into a murdered woman in Inverclyde led to the prosecution of her killers.

Russell’s tenacity and bravery stand out so I can assure you he’s more than ready to face the SNP.

But Russell and I are both certain of two things.

First, the answer to these problems does not involve more devolution.

No other party has the same fundamental belief in the Union as we do. It is in our party’s very name.

And when we stand together, we stand together to defend our national security.

When we cooperate to enhance our economic strength.

Ww know that we are the Conservative & Unionist Party. We know what we stand for and we’ll always be proud of it.

For Labour, a belief in the Union is negotiable, like every so-called promise made by Keir Starmer.

We know that when it really matters, like on gender or free speech or taxes, Labour will fold and vote with the SNP.

And as for Reform, the Union is just not that important to them.

In April this year, Nigel Farage said he would be fine with the SNP winning another five years in power.

He’s fine with another five years of higher bills, longer waiting lists, declining school standards, gender madness, and ultimately, independence.

Reform will vote to let the SNP in, Conservatives will only ever vote to get the Nationalists out.

Secondly, the answer to these problems must involve a reassertion of our Conservative economic principles.

The belief that it is business and entrepreneurship, not government or politicians who create growth, if you believe that then you are a Conservative. No other party believes this.

And if you believe that your earnings belong to you and the government should have to justify what it’s going to do with your money, then you are a Conservative.

Scotland suffers the highest tax burden in the UK.

Yet Scots face £1.7 billion worth of tax rises this year. The SNP’s failure to grow Scotland’s economy has cost public services more than £1 billion in this year alone. And that’s before Labour’s jobs tax kills growth.

Scottish people are paying for more and getting less.

That ‘economic performance gap’ between Scotland and the rest of the UK is Scotland’s double whammy – Labour and the SNP.

The Scottish National Farmers’ Union know that Labour’s family farm tax will be ‘devastating’. The Scottish Chambers of Commerce know that Labour’s National Insurance rise is a double tax hit for businesses and could jeopardise job creation.

We should be supporting those who want to innovate, those who want to create jobs and wealth, and do the right thing. Because for a long time, they haven’t felt that no one has had their backs.

So, I am telling them today, the Conservative Party is under new leadership, and we will once again represent everyone across Scotland and the United Kingdom who believes the same things that we do.

Russell and I have both been open that in government, we didn’t always get things right.

That’s something you never hear from the SNP or Labour.

They will never be honest with you when they get it wrong. We are and we will be.

Just look at what John Swinney has to say. He is still insisting he was right to waste half a billion pounds on ferries that haven’t set sail.

Anas Sarwar is still trying to pretend he knew what a woman was all along.

And Keir Starmer says he was right to cut winter fuel payments, and also right to restore them. He just can’t bring himself to say, ‘I’m sorry, I got it wrong’.

And when politicians refuse to hold their hands up, even when their mistakes are glaringly obvious, people lose trust.

So, we will do things differently because we know that the public lost trust in politicians who can never admit when they’re wrong.

People are fed up with hearing big promises that will never be delivered.

They’re frustrated by the lack of focus on what matters most to their everyday lives.

Scotland needs Conservatives now more than ever.

And when the Nationalists tried to drive a wedge in our UK-wide market with a deeply flawed Deposit Return Scheme, we didn’t let them. We need to remind people what Conservatives did.

We rejected Nicola Sturgeon’s repeated demand for referendums, again, again, and again. Because we knew it would be a distraction from the issues that really matter to people in Scotland.

Issues the Conservatives are focused on.

That is why we cut taxes for 2.4 million workers in Scotland, rewarding hard work.

That is why we introduced legislation to protect 93,600 jobs in Scotland whilst investing £52 million in Freeports to create 75,000 new jobs.

And that’s why we boosted pensions, froze the duty on Scotch Whisky, and supported new North Sea oil and gas licences.

Conference I could be here all day talking about all the things the SNP and Labour are doing wrong. But the truth is people want to know what we are going to do. What are our solutions

So, this speech isn’t about looking back. It’s about the future. Our country’s future.

I am renewing this party. And with you, and the help of our excellent Scottish Conservative MPs – Harriet Cross, John Cooper, John Lamont, David Mundell and Shadow Secretary of State, Andrew Bowie, all alongside me at Westminster, I want you to know we are building a positive vision of the future.

Renewing our Party and our country also means doing some of the things we didn’t do enough of. Like standing up for our oil and gas industry.

When the Oil and Gas Windfall Tax, the Energy Profits Levy as it’s called, was brought in, the justification was that the oil price was near a historic high, at the exact time as energy bills for the British people were sky rocketing.

But for months there has not been a windfall to tax. And the longer this regressive tax on one of our most successful industries remains, the more damaging it becomes.

The strikes overnight in the Middle East remind us of how vital it is that we can rely on our own energy security, our own natural resources.

Labour have extended and increased this tax. I’m afraid they are killing the oil and gas industry.

And frankly, if it is allowed to remain in place until 2030, as is Labour’s current plan, there will be no industry left to tax.

Thousands will have been made unemployed and all the while we import more gas from overseas – from the very same basin in which we are banned from drilling.

So today I say enough. Labour must remove the energy profits levy.

I didn’t agree with imposing the levy in government. But I respected the decision of the Prime Minister. But it is a good example of what I think we got wrong. But Labour is doubling down where we got things wrong, they’re doubling down when they should be speeding up the process of replacing it with a system that actually rewards success and incentivises investment. People are not investing in the North Sea anymore that’s why we shouldn’t have this energy profits levy at all.

And what is Reform answer to energy policy? That the Government should part-nationalise oil and gas. The last thing we need is more politicians meddling with business.

So, what are we going to do under my leadership?

We will scrap the ban on new licenses.

We will overturn the ban on supporting oil and gas technology exports.

And we will champion our own industry.

We will let this great British, great Scottish industry thrive grow and create jobs – ensuring our energy security for generations to come and making Scotland richer in the process.

For decades, Aberdeen and the North East has been the energy capital. Not just of the UK, but of Europe. It is often said that wherever in the world you find oil and gas, you find an Aberdonian.

And the reason, because they are the product of a world leading centre of excellence that has grown up around Aberdeen, the supply chain, the research, the innovation that supports our and the global offshore industry.

That is what we must protect. That is what we must champion. That is what we must grow. We do not believe I managed decline.

Scotland at the heart of our energy future for the next generation as it has been for the last. We must make sure that continues, but there is more.

We must secure a positive future for Scottish Farming so we will overturn the family farm tax. Because securing the future of farms in Scotland for generations to come means that we’re keeping Scottish food on British plates.

And we must also build a future for our fishing industry, as my good friend David Duguid has been telling me for the last 8 years, we are the only ones who will defend it against Labour’s lack of interest, the SNP, would have us back in the Common Fisheries Policy, and Reform’s fantasies.

Only our party would bring down bills and give people back control of their own hard-earned money.

What else will we do? We will stand by Scotland’s defence industry to build the security equipment and systems that keep us safe.

And as our world gets ever more dangerous – be it in the Middle East as well as Ukraine – it becomes even harder to understand why this week Labour didn’t use the Spending Review to set out a clear plan to get to 3% on defence spending.

Conference, I want you to know our party will always be ready to protect Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom, especially when it comes to defence.

So, in next year’s elections, Russell and his team will put forward a different way of doing things. Different from the SNP and different from Labour. But very very Conservative

Our party’s platform will be grounded in positive new policies to fire up economic growth, create opportunities for workers and businesses, reward aspiration with lower taxes, and improve school standards, something that seems to have been forgotten by so many of the other parties. They are our future, and we are the only ones who will create an inheritance for the next generation.

Under my leadership, and with Russell Findlay in charge in Scotland, my party knows where it stands.

With your help, we will renew Conservative policies with common sense for this country.

And I want you to know that our party members are at the heart of this movement.

You will help shape the policies that will be the foundation of our party’s future success, so we can make our country stronger again and change it for the better.

Together, we can demonstrate to the public that we’ve changed. That we’re doing things differently. That we’re ready to represent them again.

Let us be honest about where we went wrong in the past. But let’s be optimistic about what we can put right in the future.

The Conservative and Unionist Party is ready to fight for a common-sense future for Scotland and an even stronger United Kingdom.