Conservatives need to ‘win back trust’ in Yorkshire, says leader

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party needs to “win back trust” if it is to regain seats in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The Tories lost 17 seats in the region at last year’s general election, as they went from controlling 26 constituencies to just nine.

Badenoch is facing questions about her first year as leader, with her party trailing in the polls behind Labour and Reform UK and suffering losses at the recent local elections.

She said in order to win back voters the party must start by “acknowledging the mistakes” which led to their “historic defeat” in 2024.

Labour’s so-called ‘Red Wall’ famously turned blue at the 2019 election, with seats previously considered strongholds for the party won by Tory MPs, including some for the first time.

However, five years later voters places like Don Valley, Rother Valley, Penistone and Stockbridge, and York Outer, returned to Labour.

“After doing a lot of good things in government, the last few years there was no real delivery, said Badenoch, who was elected as Conservative leader in November following Richmond and Northallerton MP Rishi Sunak’s resignation.

“We are drawing a line under that. Our party is under new leadership and we are going to win back trust.”

Badenoch identified immigration and taxes as two issues she would address at this week’s Conservative Party conference, describing both as “far too high”.

She said she intended to make the Tories the “credible alternative” to Labour.

“We are the only party that can take the tough decisions – difficult decisions we won’t run away from – but we are also competent enough to deliver them,” she said.

“We need to get the economy back on track. That means tough decisions, including cutting back on spending.”

The Conservatives have won more general elections than any other party since 1918, coming out on top on 18 out of 29 occasions.

But after its best electoral performance since 1979 in 2019, the party slumped to its worst-ever defeat last year.

Badenoch rejected the suggestion the Tories had since become irrelevant to voters amid the rise of Reform UK, which currently leads YouGov’s voting intention poll.

“[Labour] are talking about Reform because they want to talk about Reform. They think that if they galvanise the left they can defeat Reform.

“Both Labour and Reform want more welfare, they don’t want to cut public spending. We are the only party that has sensible plans that will actually work.”

Badenoch has joined Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice in criticising Net Zero, the UK government’s plan to balance its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but stopped short of casting doubt over the validity of climate change.

“Climate change is real. What we are stopping is bankrupting our country. I’m a sceptic of Net Zero, it’s not a real plan – it’s not working,” she told the BBC

“Let’s fix the environment, let’s sort out climate change. But let’s have a plan that works.”