What Tory leader hopefuls Badenoch and Jenrick think about poverty, benefits, housing and more

Either Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will become the next leader of the Conservative Party, picking up the mantle after a chastening general election defeat.

The final pair in the contest both served as ministers in the previous government and weren’t shy of voicing their opinions. As they fight to be the person to pick the Conservatives up from electoral oblivion, here’s what Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch have said on key topics, from poverty to the environment.

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Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch on the housing crisis

Jenrick: “The social housing stock in this country should be focused on people who’ve been here for a longer period of time. I think that’s a common-sensical policy.”

Badenoch: “The truth is that the only way to improve the lives of the millions of people living in rented homes is to control immigration and build more homes, particularly in high-demand areas like Inner London.”

Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch on the environment and net zero

Jenrick: “The UK is only 1% of the world’s emissions. There’s no prizes for being the first country in the world to decarbonise. We should be working towards net zero 2050, but we shouldn’t be decarbonising faster than our major competitors in the world.”

Badenoch: “I think that it was wrong of us to set a target without having a clear plan of the cost and knowing what it would entail. Setting an arbitrary target like that is the wrong way to go.

“I am not someone who doesn’t believe in climate change. I can see. But there is a better way of going about these things.”

Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch on poverty

Jenrick: “Our strong unemployment statistics – only covering those looking for work – are a comfort blanket that masks an epidemic of long-term sickness claims.”

Badenoch: “We don’t have a cure for poverty. If we did, we would have done it already.”

Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch on refugees and migration

Jenrick: “Our immigration system has, in effect, become a bloated social safety net for the rest of the world.”

Badenoch: “Many of the officials I met from the Home Office, for example, had come from refugee charities, they wanted to look after refugees and asylum seekers.”

Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch on benefits

Jenrick: “One place to cut is in the benefits system. Just as we can increase GDP per capita by giving our workers more equipment to work with, we can increase it by bringing more people into work.”

Badenoch: “We need to have more personal responsibility. There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.”

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