Griffith promises red tape bonfire

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has promised a bonfire of red tape while setting out Conservative plans to reduce taxation and accelerate development.

Scrapping environmental bodies

The Conservatives intend to scrap Natural England and the Environment Agency, with their functions taken into the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dismantling net zero requirements

The party plans to dismantle net zero requirements for residential developments and ditch the future homes standard, which requires low-carbon heating technology like heat pumps.

Fifty thousand pound saving promised

The Conservatives claim the package could reduce the average cost of a newly built property by roughly fifty thousand pounds, described as the most ambitious deregulation project in a generation.

Tax cuts and inheritance tax

Griffith indicated a Conservative government's initial budget would be tax-cutting. He and leader Kemi Badenoch ultimately aim to abolish inheritance tax entirely if they can finance it.

“There's lots of things that we would like to do, but the job of chancellor is to make sure that those can be paid for.”

Backing Heathrow expansion

The Conservatives will pledge to back a third runway at Heathrow, drawing a dividing line with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has resisted endorsing the project.

Labour and opposition backlash

Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the Conservatives want to return to a politics that let so many people down over the past forty years and completely failed to grow the economy.

“The Tories had 14 years in government to grow our economy and help people get on the housing ladder, but they completely failed at every turn.”

Reform accuses Tories of copying

Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick accused the Conservatives of copying Reform policies but said they cannot match Reform's pledge to raise the personal allowance from twelve thousand five hundred and seventy pounds to fifteen thousand pounds.