Shadow chancellor vows huge spending reductions, civil service cull
The Conservative Party says it will introduce deep spending cuts across the civil service, welfare and foreign aid if elected to government, vowing measures reminiscent of Elon Musk’s cost-slashing campaign in Washington.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said at the party’s Manchester conference that the Tories would cut a quarter of civil service employees if returned to power, part of a wider plan to trim overall state spending by £47 billion.
The party also said it would halve international development aid and lower welfare spending by billions of pounds, unveiling a swathe of new proposals aimed at regaining support from a resurgent Reform UK and Nigel Farage.
The plans appear to be taking a leaf from the Trump playbook, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initially helmed by Musk introducing massive cuts to federal government spending and jobs earlier this year.
Other policies announced by Stride in Monday’s speech included a pledge to remove leisure and hospitality sector business rates, and a “first-job bonus” that would move national insurance payments into a long-term savings account.
And the Tories also said they would remove red tape for businesses by simplifying tax and banking rules and repealing the Employment Rights Bill – a measure shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith says would “destroy” opportunity for young people.
Stride attacked Reform’s plans for the economy, claiming Farage aimed to spend “billions more on welfare… and they want you to pay for it.”
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said on Monday that Reform was “the mirror image” of the current government and tied its policies to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
But a Labour spokesperson torched the Conservatives’ pledge to remove business rates for certain sectors, describing the party as “the same old Tories with the same old policies.”
The Conservatives are currently languishing behind rivals in polls, which indicate that the party would have next to no chance of forming a government if an election – next scheduled for 2029 – took place today.
Stride also highlighted “serious mistakes” made during the premiership of Liz Truss, whose economic policies triggered a bond and mortgage market crisis, and said that era “will never, ever happen again.”
The conference, which saw party leader Kemi Badenoch take the stage for her address on Sunday, will wrap up on Wednesday (October 8).
