Badenoch Pledges Tories Would Scrap Inheritance Tax on Homes

Kemi Badenoch told Conservative Party conference delegates in Birmingham on Wednesday that a future Conservative government would scrap inheritance tax on family homes and let couples pass on up to £1 million tax-free, according to BBC News. The pledge, delivered in her keynote speech at Symphony Hall, came after days of speculation that an inheritance tax announcement was coming, the broadcaster reported.

What exactly did Badenoch propose?

The plan has two parts, per BBC News: inheritance tax (IHT) would be eliminated on family homes specifically, and couples more broadly would be able to leave up to £1 million tax-free to their heirs. Badenoch framed a full repeal of inheritance tax as the party's longer-term goal, saying the ambition is to abolish IHT "as soon as we can afford it." No date or revenue figure for that broader abolition was given in her remarks as reported by the BBC.

IHT is levied on the value of a person's estate at death, the BBC noted in its coverage. The £1 million tax-free threshold for couples is the only specific number Badenoch put behind the policy on Wednesday, according to the broadcaster's account of the speech.

Why not scrap the full tax now?

Badenoch said she could not currently propose abolishing inheritance tax outright because of spending commitments on defence, prisons and the broader economy, the BBC reported. That caveat — affordability tied to competing budget priorities — is the only fiscal constraint she cited publicly, per the same report. The speech did not include a costed timetable for when those commitments might ease enough to fund full abolition.

How does she position the Tories against Reform and Labour?

Much of the address was built around contrast rather than arithmetic. Badenoch described the Conservatives as the "no-nonsense party," setting that against what she called the Reform UK "circus," according to BBC News. She told delegates that Reform has experienced "an export boom of drama queens" leaving the Tories for Nigel Farage's party, while insisting the Conservatives remain the "no drama party."

She drew a direct line against a deal with Reform, telling the hall: "To those who say 'unite the right,' we are not uniting with that. People deserve better than that and we are going to give them better than that. Character, conduct, and standards matter," the BBC reported. At the same time, she called many Reform voters "our people," saying "we let them down and we want them to come back home."

On Labour, Badenoch labeled Prime Minister Andy Burnham a "Paddington Bear prime minister" who was "hoping that the problems will just go away," per the BBC's account. She also invoked Marks & Spencer as a turnaround model, telling members: "Just like M&S, we must learn from our mistakes, win back trust and make people feel good about our party again."

What do rival parties say about the plan?

Rival parties responded that the inheritance tax proposals would primarily benefit wealthier households, according to BBC News, which did not attribute that reaction to a specific named spokesperson in its report. Badenoch did not address that criticism directly in the excerpted remarks published by the broadcaster.

Timeline: Conservatives since the 2024 defeat

• 2024 general election: The Conservative Party suffered what the BBC described as a historic defeat, the starting point Badenoch referenced repeatedly in Wednesday's speech.
• Conference run-up (days before Oct. 7, 2026): BBC News reported widespread speculation inside the party that an inheritance tax announcement was imminent.
• Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026: Badenoch delivered the keynote address in Birmingham, announcing the family-home IHT exemption and £1 million couples' threshold, and declaring the party "renewed" and "coming back," per the BBC.
• Same day: Conservative members gave one of the speech's loudest responses to her rejection of a Reform UK electoral pact, the BBC reported.

What to watch next

• Whether the Conservatives publish a costed plan for full inheritance tax abolition, given Badenoch's own acknowledgment that current defence, prison and economic spending commitments block it now.
• How Reform UK and Labour, including Burnham, respond directly to the "circus" and "Paddington Bear" characterizations in the days following the conference.
• Whether opposition parties follow up their claim that the IHT plan favors wealthier estates with specific household-level figures, since none were cited in the BBC's report of Wednesday's speech.
• Movement in national polling, where the BBC describes the Conservatives as trailing both Labour and Reform UK heading into the conference.

Full remarks and additional reporting on the speech are available via BBC News.