Kemi Badenoch: Anthropy Conference Speech - March 27

Today [Thursday 27^th March 2025] Leader of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch MP has delivered a keynote speech at the Anthropy 2025 conference.

In her speech, Kemi Badenoch said:  

“It's a pleasure to be here at Anthropy. A forum that brings together people who care about business, society, and the future of our country. 

I asked John why he started Anthropy…and he said it was created in response to the pandemic.  

I thought the pandemic was a seminal moment, A moment of crisis that forced all of us to rethink our economy, our businesses, and our responsibilities. 5 years later, all I can see is that everything is so much worse.  

We have a cost-of-living crisis. Economic inactivity is at near record levels. Productivity is stagnating. And too many of our young people are disengaged.  Some of the best and most dynamic are leaving the country. 

They're leaving because no one is giving them hope.  If you're a young person today, things feel bleak.  You are told you can't get a job unless you go to university.  You then leave university tens of thousands of pounds in debt, the jobs don't pay particularly well and even when you get one that does, you can't buy a house because they're too expensive.  You have to start a family later….and everyone around you is telling you there won't even be a planet left by the time you do.  

I still remember…just about… what it is like to be young. Twenty years ago, when I was 25, the world felt full of hope and opportunity.  Now it doesn't.  We talk about our country as if our best days are behind us.  They are not.  Someone has to create hope.   We can do that by showing we here today are creating an inheritance for the next generation.   

Let's take some inspiration from where we are now.  This is my first time at the Eden Project – and it is a tribute to the marvels of human ingenuity and a jewel in the crown of the South West of England. 

Yet, three decades ago, it was all so different. 

We stand in a china clay pit. 

A mine. 

Where for a century and a half, those who worked here, poured their blood, sweat and tears into providing the materials to build our society. 

For Ceramics. 

Paper. 

Rubber. 

Even cosmetics and haircare. 

The building blocks of how we live…come from places like this used to be. 

And, over that century and a half, it probably made someone in business – lots of money. 

That's capitalism.  Markets.  Hard work, but also duty and sacrifice. 

The values I believe in and which I think made our world better. 

The ones that provide the solutions. 

That find the answers. 

That give the dignity of work 

And, ultimately, make the lives of people out there easier. 

It won't surprise many of you to know that I'm a Conservative.  One of the reasons my party is out of office is because we forgot what we were about and opted for a technocratic managerialism that didn't inspire anyone and didn't tell a story about who we are and how we make the world a better place.  

The Conservative Party is now under new leadership and one of the things I want us to do is remember the social value of business and enterprise.  

Not just in its products and its output. 

But by the contribution it makes. Taxes.   

Corporate. Personal. Consumption. 

Business powers Government to do its job. 

And, ultimately, allows Government to support places like the Eden Project to be built. 

That's the virtuous circle that capitalism can create. 

Things we need.  People we employ.  Stuff which gets done. 

And that's the kind of country I want to build again….. 

Where business does truly remarkable things again.   

Where it contributes to our shared national mission. 

Where we make our country better.              

But, let me be honest with you…our country is falling behind. 

Why? 

Because we aren't being honest with ourselves. 

I bet you've seen dozens of politicians standing on stages like this telling you that business matters.  

They talk about partnership with you. 

And then everyone goes home. 

And you go back to your businesses. 

Businesses which you and your colleagues, have worked so hard to build up. Where you have to meet the payroll every month. 

Where you have an obligation to your employees, your customers and the future you are building. 

And the reality… is things getting tougher. 

Burden after burden loaded on. 

More regulations. 

Rising taxes. 

Barriers to entry raised. 

Government and politicians getting in the way of you doing business. 

Today's headlines are all about the terrible economic situation after yesterday's Spring Statement.  An emergency budget less than 5 months after the last one.  Back in October, I remember listening to the Chancellor announce how she was going to create growth and my heart sank.    

Because her language showed this fundamental misconception…that it is Government that creates growth. 

Government does not create growth…business does. 

Government often needs to get out of the way. 

A budget that puts so many taxes on business… means that they will not do the things that business needs to do to create growth. 

Then everything gets worse. More spending, more borrowing…. 

But let's be honest….This is bigger than one budget.  And it's even bigger than one Government and one party, because you will all know that we raised taxes too and burdened business.   But we also are living in a world where a lot of business has actually become bureaucracy. 

We have built a system where the good guys are punished with red tape, while the bad guys simply ignore it. 

When I was Business Secretary, I scrapped a whole load of audit regulations that would have punished well-run companies, while the worst offenders would have just found ways around them. 

Lots of businesses quietly thanked me. The only one that publicly complained?  A large consultancy firm. Because they had lined up millions in compliance advisory fees. 

This is what happens when business stops focusing on real productivity and starts profiting from bureaucracy instead. 

We are well on the way to creating a zero-risk business environment..  One where the answer is protect your position rather than build things anew. 

One where entrepreneurs are punished for taking a chance. One where capital is leaving the UK for more competitive markets.

As Business and Trade Secretary, I saw how government stifles enterprise. Successive governments have layered on tax, regulation, and intervention, without ever stepping back to ask: is this helping businesses grow? 

Look at the numbers: 

Regulation is out of control – Businesses face billions in additional regulatory costs every year. GDPR compliance alone cut profits by 8% and sales by 2%. 

Tax is rising on those who work and create wealth – The tax burden is at a 70-year high. The last budget launched a £25 billion tax raid on British business. 

Entrepreneurs are leaving – The UK lost 10,800 millionaires in 2024 alone. That's one every 45 minutes. Meanwhile, the number of companies trading on the London Stock Exchange has fallen by a third in the past decade. 

This is the price of a short-termist, risk-averse, bureaucratic mindset. 

The result? A growing divide between real business and the ‘business industry'. 

Which takes me onto my second point. 

One of the biggest threats to free enterprise isn't just government—it's the corporatism and compliance culture that has taken over large parts of our economy. 

Big business today often spends more time lobbying for regulation than competing in the market. We have an industry built around box-ticking——without real impact. 

This is a major shift. 

And it's time to get real: we don't have time for all of this anymore. 

We need businesses laser-like focused on their mission. 

Because that's the only way our country's mission succeeds. 

The most successful businesses are going to be the ones that don't waste time on corporate theatre. They will focus relentlessly on delivering value. Innovating. Solving real problems. 

Everyone in this room wants to do something good. You care about social impact. About the future of our country. And the honest truth is this: 

The best thing you can do right now for social impact is to make a profit so you can create jobs and hire people.  

Last week, my party launched the biggest policy renewal programme in 50 years. 

And why? 

For too long, politics has been about winning elections, not planning for the future. I want to change that. 

And I want business at the heart of this renewal. Because policy doesn't just affect business explicitly—through tax and regulation. It affects business across the board—in housing, in infrastructure, in skills. 

That is why we are building this programme differently. This is not about politicians telling business what to do. It is about business shaping the policies that will drive our future. 

So my message to you today is simple: Get involved. 

If you believe in free enterprise, if you want to build, innovate, and create wealth—now is the time to act. 

Because in the end, it's not government that will drive prosperity. It's you.

Thank you.”