UK FACT CHECK POLITICS
UK FACT CHECK POLITICS
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QUOTE From: Budget 2026 live: Latest updates, analysis and fact checks

Badenoch says most people will be thinking 'is that it?' in reply to Budget

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has replied to the Budget. She told MPs it was not bold enough.

"Most people in the country will be thinking, is that it?"

She began speaking at about 1:40pm, according to LBC's live blog. That is later than the 1:30pm LBC had earlier listed for her reply.

Ms Badenoch said it was still easier to live on benefits than to work in the private sector. That claim has not been independently checked.

She criticised the lack of action on youth unemployment. She also described what the Chancellor, John Healey, had inherited from Rachel Reeves as a "hospital pass".

On defence, she said: "You can't have social security without national security because if you cannot defend your country there will be nothing left to defend."

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