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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on 5 October 2026, Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith set out opposition proposals for lower, simpler taxes and fewer regulations. They are political commitments, not changes to current law: the speech does not provide a complete independent costing or demonstrate that its promised savings will reach households.
What are the Conservatives proposing to cut?
Griffith framed the party’s economic pitch around taxes, regulation and growth, saying: “Conference, the Britain we love has a debt problem, a tax problem and a growth problem.” He said the Conservatives would aim for taxes that are lower and simpler, with cuts prioritised where they support growth, encourage work or make the system simpler and fairer. The speech specifically promises to scrap Labour’s packaging tax and says the party would publish its plans “line by line,” including bills and regulations. The Conservative Party’s published speech is a statement of opposition policy, not a bill or an enacted change.
Griffith also said, “Like Nigel Lawson, it is my ambition to scrap at least one tax every Budget.” That is an ambition rather than a fully specified schedule of tax cuts. The speech criticises Labour’s proposed Family Homes Tax, claiming it could cost £75,000 over ten years; that is Griffith’s political claim, not an independently assessed figure in the available sources.
How would the plan reduce the cost of building a home?
The Conservatives say their housing reforms could mean “Saving up to £50,000 on a new home.” The figure is the party’s estimate of potential savings from its proposed reforms. It is not independently verified in the available reporting, and the sources do not establish that any saving would be passed on to a buyer through a lower purchase price.
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BBC reporting on the conference proposals described changes to environmental and energy-efficiency requirements for new homes, alongside replacing Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy with a single developer charge. These are reported proposals, not changes already in force. Their effects would depend on the details: for example, how the replacement charge is set and used, and what standards apply to new construction. The BBC’s report provides the additional detail; the party’s speech is the source of the £50,000 claim.
What other regulatory changes are in the reported package?
The BBC also reported proposals to abolish Natural England and the Environment Agency and transfer their functions to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as well as support for a third Heathrow runway. These would be institutional and infrastructure changes, not simply tax cuts. The available reporting does not establish how the functions would be carried out after a transfer or assess the proposals’ likely costs and outcomes.
The party presents its principles document, The Right Way, as a framework for a future programme for government. That helps explain the intended direction of the conference pitch, but does not independently verify claims about economic effects. The Conservative Party’s principles statement describes that role.
Is the childcare threshold proposal part of Griffith’s speech?
No. On 4 October, the day before Griffith’s speech, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch separately proposed removing what the party calls the £100,000 childcare eligibility cliff edge. The party says a parent earning more than £100,000 can lose eligibility for up to 30 hours a week of childcare support and Tax-Free Childcare, and proposes removing that threshold effect. This was a companion conference announcement, not a measure first introduced in Griffith’s speech. The party’s 4 October statement sets out its account of the current rules and its proposal.
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What does the £50,000 saving claim mean?
It is a maximum potential saving asserted by the Conservative Party for its proposed housing reforms—not a guaranteed reduction in the price of a new home, a payment to buyers or an independently validated forecast. The available sources do not show the calculation behind the estimate or how any reduction in development costs would be divided among developers, landowners and buyers.
To assess the wider package, readers would need detail on its fiscal cost and funding, who benefits and who bears costs, whether it increases housebuilding or reduces buyer prices, and what regulatory changes mean for environmental protections and community infrastructure. The speech promises a more detailed line-by-line plan, but the sources available here do not provide an independent costing or outcome evaluation of the overall programme.
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