Spanish
The British Conservative Party promised this Monday that, if it comes to power in the elections scheduled for 2029, it will impose savings of 47 billion pounds (about 54 billion euros) through cuts in social benefits, foreign aid, public housing and the civil service, as well as in environmental policies.
The Economy spokesperson, Mel Stride, presented the proposal in a speech to the annual congress of the formation in Manchester (northwest England), which will conclude on Wednesday with the speech of the leader, Kemi Badenoch.
Stride defended that the UK "cannot keep spending money it simply doesn't have" and promised "never to make fiscal commitments without first explaining how they will be paid for".
The party seeks to regain its reputation in economic management after, in September 2022, then-Prime Minister 'Tory' Liz Truss presented an ill-founded budget that caused chaos in the markets and her resignation a month and a half later.
According to the deputy, the new plan aims to "reward work" and "restore fiscal discipline" after years of excessive public spending.
Among the measures designed by the conservatives - who in July 2024 suffered a historic defeat after fourteen years in power - is the creation of a 'first job bonus', which would allow young people to receive a tax refund of 5,000 pounds (about 5,750 euros) intended for the purchase of their first home once they get their first job.
The bulk of the savings announced this Monday would come from cuts of £23 billion (about 26.5 billion euros) in social welfare, which would be achieved by replacing aid to people with "mild" mental health problems with treatment and denying access to benefits to non-nationals. These foreign citizens, with the exception of those from the EU with permanent residency, would also be excluded from access to social housing. Stride also proposed a 25% reduction in the civil service workforce (around 132,000 jobs), and a cut of £7 billion (around €8.05 billion) in the foreign aid budget, which would be left at 0.1% of gross domestic product. In her inaugural speech on Sunday, Badenoch, who took office last November, announced a marked shift to the right of her formation in order to combat the political advance of the right-wing populist Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage. Among other things, he proposed to increase the deportations of irregular immigrants to 150,000 per year, compared to the current 35,000, restrict the right to asylum, abandon the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and revoke the 2008 climate law to revise emission reduction targets. Even more than the Labour Party, Badenoch's Conservatives face a loss of votes to Reform UK, which leads the polls with 34% support, compared to 22% for Labour and 14% for the 'Tories'.
