Kemi Badenoch has issued a stern warning to Andy Burnham ahead of his first major speech as Prime Minister later today.
The Conservative leader penned a letter to No10’s newest tenant, vowing to never “shirk” her responsibility as Leader of the Opposition to hold the Prime Minister to account.
Mrs Badenoch also piled pressure onto Mr Burnham to rule out tax rises on hard-working Britons and ditch Labour’s “disastrous” ban on drilling in the North Sea.
Failing to do so would threaten Britons with a “damaging summer of speculation, affecting business investment, home owners and family finances”, the North West Essex MP said.
She also refused to let up on the Makerfield MP’s failure to submit himself to “serious media scrutiny” after he snubbed questions from outlets including GB News to instead host a Reddit Q&A session where he was able to self-select questions.
In her letter, Mrs Badenoch wrote: “Congratulations on your appointment as leader of the Labour Party.
“Later today you will take over as our Prime Minister. In the interest of our country, I wish you every success.
“As you know, however, it is my job as Leader of the Opposition to hold you to account, and I will never shirk from doing so. You will enter office without having set out a clear plan on any of the issues facing our country.
“You have refused calls to come to Parliament for questions from MPs, and you have not submitted yourself to serious media scrutiny. This is not a promising start.”
She called for “common sense policies to get Britain working again”, demanding cheaper energy, lower taxes, cutting welfare, and stronger borders.
“Where we support your agenda, I will say so. But I will always stand against the instincts of Labour MPs for higher taxes and more spending,” Mrs Badenoch warned.
The Tory leader did, however, lend a helping hand to the Makerfield MP, offering him the votes of her 118 MPs to push legislation through Parliament.
Mrs Badenoch previously extended the same support to assist Sir Keir Starmer to bringing down the ballooning benefits bill – which he refused, despite a left-wing revolt among his own MPs.
She warned: “You must not repeat the mistakes of Keir Starmer’s premiership which failed because he refused to stand up to his left-wing Labour backbenchers and their endless demands for tax rises to pay for more welfare.
“As the Welfare Secretary himself said: every meeting he had with Labour MPs was about who they could tax more to pay for more benefits.
“Britain cannot go on like this without becoming a welfare state with a country attached.”
Lending cross-party support, Mrs Badenoch issued the same offer to the new Labour leader.
“We both know that Labour backbenchers will not vote to cut benefits, so I make the same offer to you,” she began.
“Meet with me, and if we reach agreement on a plan to bring down the benefits bill, 118 Conservative MPs will vote for it on a three-line whip.”
And Mrs Badenoch left no stone unturned as she turned her ire towards energy policy, an area which she claimed Mr Burnham could make an “immediate” difference.
“Ed Miliband has been a disaster for Britain: a one man deindustrialisation machine, destroying thousands of jobs which rely on the North Sea,” she said.
While the Tory welcomed the reports that Mr Burnham was considering opening up the North Sea for drilling, she urged the new Prime Minister to go one further.
She piled pressure onto the incoming Prime MInister to overturn the “destructive ban on new oil and gas licences which amounts to unilateral energy disarmament”.
