Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat to accuse Labour of having ‘no plans’

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Conservative leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat is expected to accuse Labour of having “no plans, no ideas, and no vision to improve the country” in a speech on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Tugendhat, one of six Tory MPs standing to be the party’s next leader, is also expected to say Labour is being “dishonest” about its fiscal choices.

The shadow security minister is expected to say the “so-called fiscal black hole” consists of “normal in-year spending pressures” and decisions that have been made on public sector pay.

He will say: “Labour are pretending they have no option but to do what they are doing. But this is untrue. They are doing what they are doing because they have made a choice to do it – and a choice to be dishonest about it.”

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned that the Budget due in October would be “painful”, with the Government facing a “£22 billion black hole” in the finances.

Mr Tugendhat will also accuse Sir Keir’s party of wanting to “please their union donors”.

“They have no plans, no ideas, and no vision to improve the country,” he is expected to say.

“They do have instincts, though, and they have ideology.

“They want to level down, not level up. They want to take away, not build anew.

“They want a bigger state, they want to please their union donors, and they want to borrow, tax and spend. Because that is what Labour always do.”

Mr Tugendhat is also expected to discuss the delivery of public services and say there is “not enough” talk about “freedom for professionals to innovate and respond to local need”.

He will say “we talk too much about systems, and not enough about people”, adding: “Too much about centralised policies, binding mandates and legal frameworks, and not enough about the freedom for professionals to innovate and respond to local need.

“Too much about the state, and not enough about the little platoons – the families, communities, charities, mutuals and small groups of public servants, who know better than the man in Whitehall how best to tackle the challenges before them.”

Mr Tugendhat is one of the six candidates for the Conservative leadership alongside Dame Priti Patel, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride and Kemi Badenoch.

A new leader is due to be announced at the start of November.