Kemi Badenoch has said welfare spending could be considered \u2018unchristian\u2019.<\/p>\n
This week, the Tory leader has been highly critical of Rachel Reeves\u2019 Autumn Budget, in which the chancellor increased welfare spending by \u00a316bn. <\/p>\n
The most notable measure was the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, which will cost the treasury \u00a33bn but is expected to life some 450,000 children out of poverty. <\/p>\n
Reacting to the budget on Wednesday, Badenoch had crassly labelled it a \u2018budget for Benefits Street\u2019, language for which she has been criticised<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n Now, she has suggested spending on the welfare state is \u2018unchristian.\u2019<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Victoria Derbyshire reminds shadow minister of Tories\u2019 record with the economy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier this month, Badenoch quoted St Paul\u2019s advice to Timothy in the Bible as she argued that the \u201cresponsibility and dignity of work\u201d was a Christian imperative, the Times<\/a> reports. <\/p>\n She said: \u201cSt Paul, we read, in the first Epistle to Timothy proclaims that \u2018Anyone who does not provide for his own household \u2026\u00a0is worse than an unbeliever\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the Christian recognition that we all have duties \u2026 To ourselves, to our families and to the community we are part of. Conservatives believe in making work pay, in rewarding risk, in ensuring effort matches reward.\u201d<\/p>\n Appearing on Nick Robinson\u2019s Political Thinking<\/a> podcast on Friday, Badenoch was asked if she was implying that welfare spending was \u201cunchristian.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, she said: \u201cYou can argue that.\u201d <\/p>\n She continued: \u201cMy message is let\u2019s get people off welfare into work. Let us not leave debt for our children and grandchildren. That is the worst unfairness.\u201d<\/p>\n When she was asked to elaborate on what she meant, Badenoch continued: \u201cIn early Christian times there was no state or welfare so I think that you can argue that, actually. The Christian tradition is about communities and families and charity, not about compulsory taxation in order to pay welfare.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we saw with Rachel Reeves\u2019s budget was a lot of people being dragged into paying income tax, now subsidising others who are now on benefits\u2026 We need a party that still talks about personal responsibility. We are the only party that is talking about limiting welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the interview, Badenoch defended her strong choice of words towards Reeves after the budget, when she labelled the chancellor \u201cspineless, shameless and completely aimless\u201d and \u201cwallowing in self-pity.\u201d<\/p>\n “Did you hesitate before attacking another woman politician?”<\/p>\n Nick Robinson asks Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, after she said Rachel Reeves was ‘wallowing in self-pity’ at the Budget.<\/p>\n She says her comments ‘have nothing’ to do with the chancellor’s gender. pic.twitter.com\/O3oBeaMMA5<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) November 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n