Kemi Badenoch to attack Nigel Farage in major welfare speech

Kemi Badenoch will warn that Britain is "sitting on a ticking time bomb" of spiralling welfare dependency. In a speech on Thursday, the Tory leader is set to accuse Labour and Reform UK of "turning a blind eye" to a crisis that could "collapse the economy".

Mrs Badenoch will say Sir Keir Starmer's party is "beholden to Left-wing MPs" and "completely unprepared for government" after his humiliating U-turn on welfare cuts. She will also claim Reform leader Nigel Farage is "not finished yet" on benefits after he pledged to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Mrs Badenoch will say: "Nigel Farage pretends to be a Thatcherite Conservative but really, he's just Jeremy Corbyn with a pint and a cigarette.

"On welfare, he shows his true colours - promising unaffordable giveaways with no plan to fix the system."

The leader of the Opposition will insist that the Tories are the only party serious about welfare reform.

She will confirm that they will force a Commons vote next week to defend the two-child benefit cap amid pressure from some Labour backbenchers for it to be axed.

She will say: "It is not fair to spend £1billion a month on benefits for foreign nationals and on handing out taxpayer-funded cars for conditions like constipation.

"We should be backing the makers - rewarding the people getting up every morning, working hard to build our country.

"Our welfare system should look after the most vulnerable in society - not those cheating the system."

Mrs Badenoch will set out a three-point plan on welfare, including ending handouts for foreign nationals and restricting sickness benefits to more serious conditions.

The party will also restore face-to-face assessments and the requirement of robust medical evidence.

And it will attempt to get people back to work with retraining and early intervention.

It comes after the Policy Exchange think tank warned that one in every four pounds paid in income tax will go towards sickness benefits by the end of the decade, with the total ballooning to £100billion by the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, government figures show that £1billion a month is going on benefits to households with at least one foreign national.