The Conservatives are planning to make sweeping cuts beyond the £۴۷bn announced last year if they win the next election, according to leaked comments by the shadow chancellor.
Speaking last year when he was shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith told Conservative members he and fellow shadow cabinet ministers had discussed making further cuts in “every part of government”.
The comments, which have emerged on the eve of the Tory party conference in Birmingham, suggested that the Conservatives are planning to make cuts similar in scale to those made during the austerity years should they take power.
Last October, Griffith said: “There are decisions made and signed up to by everybody to deliver that £۴۷bn. Last week at the shadow cabinet, we talked about [how] we will need to go further.
“The rate at which the economy is deteriorating, as well as our ambition to cut more taxes, means that we will have to find further savings, and I’m up for that in my department. I know there are areas that we can make savings, and that’s true of every every part of government.”
He added: “There is a moral mission to get our economy growing, give people opportunity, as well as let people keep more of what they earn. It’s pretty simple. We’re Conservative, this is what we stand for.”
A Tory spokesperson acknowledged the party was seeking to make cuts beyond what it had already announced.
“Under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, the Conservatives have consistently advocated for a smaller state and a government that does fewer things but better,” the spokesperson said.
“In Birmingham, we will go further, setting out further savings to Labour’s bloated welfare bill and cracking down on wasteful spending as part of our plans to build a stronger economy and a stronger country.”
Kemi Badenoch has previously outlined how the government would cut government spending by £۴۷bn, mainly by cutting welfare spending for all non-British or EU citizens.
The plans would also save £۸bn by cutting ۱۳۲,۰۰۰ civil service jobs, another £۱.۶bn by scrapping almost all of Labour’s clean energy scheme and more than £۷bn by cutting international aid.
In August she promoted Griffith, who previously worked as chief operating officer for Sky, from his role as shadow business secretary.
In government, Griffith worked in the Treasury under Kwasi Kwarteng and was one of the ministers tasked with defending the mini-budget even as the markets tanked in response.
On Friday Badenoch promised another £۴bn of spending reductions, including taking another £۲.۵bn out of the aid budget – leaving it with just £۱bn as year – as well as reducing the budget of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport by £۱bn.
The Tory leader said she would use half of those savings to pay for an additional ۵۰,۰۰۰ prison places. She has previously promised to use half of any cuts she makes to reduce the deficit.
Griffiths’ leaked comments come as the Tories prepare to gather in Birmingham for their annual conference, with Badenoch seeking to make a virtue of the growing distance between Labour’s plans for government and her own.
The prime minister, Andy Burnham, has promised a series of potentially expensive interventions, including a new national care service and public control over utility companies, as he seeks to end what he calls “۴۰ years of neoliberalism”.
However, Badenoch, who has called Margaret Thatcher her hero, is attempting to gain an electoral advantage with her vision of lower taxes and a significantly smaller state.
“[Thatcher] is somebody who brought a lot of wealth and prosperity to this country,” the Tory leader told ITV Meridian on Friday.
“Privatisation was a success … I don’t think that Andy Burnham running the water companies is the answer to those problems.”
The Tories remain in third place in the polls, behind Labour and Reform UK, although Badenoch’s personal ratings have rallied over the last ۱۲ months.
