CONSERVATIVE Party leader Kemi Badenoch has said that China is a threat to national security and accused Sir Keir Starmer of trying to make Britain economically dependent on Beijing.
She told GB News: “The Conservative Party is united around a stronger economy and a stronger country. We’ve acknowledged mistakes we’ve made, but we’ve got a new agenda, a new direction. If people don’t like that direction, I’ve said they’ve got to get out of the way so that we can continue to deliver for the public.
“I don’t know what is in people’s minds. If people are unhappy with that, then I can understand their decision to leave, but that does make us more united, and I want people to be clear about what the offer is about, no more psychodrama, serious people doing serious politics. And we want new people with great experience joining our party.”
On the party’s statement criticising Suella Braverman, she said: “It was a mistake that was sent out in error. It should not have been said at all. And as soon as I found out, I had it retracted and the person who sent it out has been spoken to.
“Those are not the sort of things that represent the values of my party, and changing the culture of the party is something that we are doing. Occasionally, people will get things wrong, but I want people to see that when we do something wrong, we acknowledge it, we say sorry, and we try and fix it.
“Keir Starmer doesn’t think he does anything wrong. Nigel Farage wouldn’t even apologise for things he says happened at school. That was a long time ago but he can’t say sorry to those people. I’m different.”
She said there was still a place in the party for moderates: “Yes, of course, there is a place for them, and that’s why, in the speech, I said it’s not about left or right, it’s about right or wrong. People will always have policy differences. I mean, even in families, people have disagreements, but the overall direction is what is important, and I want people to see that the problems of today can only be solved by using right wing policies, values and principles, like having a better human rights framework for our country, not the one that is allowing people who should not be here, people who have bad intentions, arriving on small boats.
“We need to be able to stop that, control our borders. That’s absolutely key. We also need an economy that is growing, not one that is de-industrialising, sucking up to China, buying all Chinese products, while reducing our manufacturing capacity here. That’s why we’re scrapping the net zero plans that don’t work. It’s very, very important that people can see not just what we are doing to save our country and the economy, but why and how.”
On what relationship a Conservative government would have with China, she said: “A realistic one. China is a threat to our country, but it is also a big trading partner. When I was Trade Secretary, I saw not just in our country, countries like Australia, Japan and so many others, economic coercion, many countries around the world are worried about China, and what I was doing was working with them, with the Trans Pacific Partnership, and with the countries in the Indo Pacific, to work in our shared national interest.
“Keir Starmer is not doing that. Instead, he is creating an economic policy that’s actually dependent on China. Wind Farms built in China, solar panels built in China, electric vehicles built in China, while we’re destroying our capacity at home, that’s going to make all of us poorer and leave nothing for our children.”
Asked if Britain is broken, she said: “Britain is not broken beyond repair, but there are a lot of things that aren’t working. We have a plan to fix them, but what we’re not doing is just pointing out, ‘Oh, this is broken. That’s broken’. A lot of the people who are pointing that out don’t have plans to fix it. Some of them were even the ones who had broken things in the first place and have now run away pretending it had nothing to do with them.
“he people in my party are the people who want to fix these things, and under my leadership and using those core Conservative principles and values we’re getting there, and that’s why we’ve been able to announce a lot of great policies that I know your viewers love. Leaving the ECHR, controlling our borders, scrapping business rates on the high street, who’s out there fighting for pubs, who’s out there fighting for farmers, who’s out there fighting for veterans.
“It’s Conservatives day in and day out, while all the other people are spending their time on telly talking about everything that’s wrong. They’re not actually doing the work that’s going to fix the problem.”
