Conservatives sharpen strategy to challenge Reform and rebuild right-wing vote

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Conservatives challenge Reform, rebuild right

Highlights

The Conservative strategy, signaled by Badenoch, now targets Reform voters directly with tougher policies on immigration, policing, and fiscal matters, abandoning partnership prospects.
Core economic proposals, including lower taxes, spending cuts, deregulation, and scrapping inheritance tax on family homes, aim to regain affluent and growth-focused voters disillusioned by higher taxes.
Labour remains favored as right-wing vote splitting persists, with Reform continuing to outpoll the Conservatives and Badenoch facing skepticism amid post-2024 distrust and a durable Farage base.

Strategy shifts toward direct competition

As reported by Financial Times, Badenoch uses her party conference speech and recent policy messaging to signal that the Conservatives now plan to compete head-on with Reform rather than seek any pact with Farage's party.

The strategy rests on drawing a distinction between Reform's leadership and its voters. Badenoch is pairing sharper attacks on Reform's culture and leadership with a tougher offer on immigration, deportations, policing and prison capacity, aiming to attract voters who have drifted right without accepting cooperation with Farage.

She is also trying to widen that pitch through economics. Her growth agenda centres on lower taxes, spending cuts and deregulation, while headline measures such as scrapping inheritance tax on family homes are aimed at more affluent voters. The broader wager is that frustration with weak growth and higher taxes may eventually give the Conservatives another hearing, even if questions remain over policy gaps and fiscal trade-offs.

Electoral risks and party limits

The political logic is that a split on the right still threatens to leave Labour dominant even if Reform's support eases from current levels. Reform continues to outpoll the Conservatives in many surveys and remains active in local elections, making it a durable obstacle rather than a temporary protest vehicle.

Badenoch is also using values to try to recover moderates unsettled by Reform-style politics. Her denunciation of those questioning the Englishness of non-white citizens, including her own mixed-race children, is meant to reassure liberal-minded Conservative voters, though that stance may require firmer discipline over allies seen as adjacent to Reform's tone.

The plan still carries major uncertainties. The Conservatives remain deeply distrusted after their 2024 defeat, Farage retains a committed base, and Badenoch must first persuade voters to listen before she can pull back defectors from both the centre and the right. Even so, the party appears to believe that rebuilding the right under the Conservative banner, rather than through alliance, is now its clearest available route back into contention.

Our earlier article on persistent UK wage growth and the Bank of England’s policy outlook noted that pay settlements were tracking around 3.5% next year, keeping inflation risks elevated and complicating a return to the 2% target. It also highlighted expectations that the Bank of England could keep tightening, with higher rates weighing on borrowing conditions, including mortgage availability and demand.

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