I was listening to George Osborne a little earlier, former Conservative Chancellor, and he said, do you know what? It's not a million miles off the kind of budget that I would have presented as a Tory Chancellor.

Was there much to disagree with? Well, I think it's a bit of a pickle.

I wouldn't, sorry to use...

I see what you've done there.

And obviously, George has his views.

But the Chancellor started with it's a budget for the people of Britain.

It's about fiscal discipline.

And with the best will in the world, that's not really in the control of the Chancellor.

How do you believe that any political party has the ability to deliver a better future? Of course, what you've got is, at the moment, you've got Clyde and Reform, who've got the majority of the seats.

Well, I thank the gentleman for raising the one in jail and one on bail as former reform leaders in Wales.

And you've got the switching round between Labour in the Senedd and Plaid.

So previously, Plaid were the Labour enablers, and now you've got Labour enabling Plaid.

More politicians costing more money and not doing any more work, as the lady rightly points out in terms of changing people's lives.

Social mobility, sadly, is through the floor.

We know that after nearly three decades, things haven't changed.

And that is what reform will do in government.

OK, Nicky in Devizes texted in saying, how the heck will Kemi pay for all that?

OK, and that's an absolutely fair question.

And I hope Nikki's going to go through the speech and with a fine tooth comb, because I think people will and that's the way it works.

But she was absolutely clear about the fact that we do need that stronger economy.

We know the challenges around growing and paying for things.

I mean, it's lovely that people are finally asking, you know, how we'll pay for that, because the Labour government currently in don't know how to pay for any of the new promises they've made.

But we've made it very clear by getting young people back into work, by cutting red tape, by getting behind business to get growth, whether it's the workers, the builders, the investors, we need that prosperity for jobs so that we can cut taxes, so that we can make hiring easier, so that we can get energy costs down, which means that we can build, make and grow again.

Are you not positioning yourself as the party of the rich here?

Mims?

Mm.

So building on that, this morning I was at an international conservatives breakfast with, uh, people from a- across the, the globe, in particularly, um, worried about, uh, defense around AI, around in- intelligence sharing, people from the US in particular, and the highlighting of, of losing, um, defense from the US and the UK was a big concern.

Now, do they want us to be worrying about balancing the books when it comes to our defense off the back of hardworking pensioners? Some, as Trés have, uh, described, are on the most fixed incomes, and bearing in mind that energy costs are through the roof, many of my constituents will also be relying on oil, um, and, uh, and very expensive ways of heating their homes if they're particularly in rural areas.

No, they want us to be looking at working age pension, uh, working age benefits.

But more importantly, when is Labour gonna start, start talking about spending cuts, about making harsh and difficult decisions that you have to make in government to put the defense of the realm at the heart of this? So that's what we're saying the trade-off is, that actually getting down the housing bill, getting more people working.

So Trés and I, um, during COVID, we created with business, with business, because we made young people the most irresistible people, uh, in the labor market.

Would you welcome back Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman?

Now, that was an, that was an unconditional gift that Nigel Farage says was entirely in, entirely okay, and now Parliament's, uh, standards watchdog is ruling or deciding whether or not he should have declared it or not.

Yeah, and you're absolutely correct o- on that, Ben, and, and thank you.

Uh, I must say, my constituents have had some serious eyebrows raised, and it's been much of the conversation actually, uh, that I've had with people, uh, this weekend.

I think, u- ultimately m- mo- money is helpful.

It's an accelerant to help for them to perhaps, uh, professionalize, but, you know, it can't be a cure, and it can't buy integrity.

And as we absolutely heard, it shouldn't feel like people can come in with these individual people with whacking great donations a- and perhaps look like they're trying to decide elections or, more importantly, uh, policy.

Reform are the only party accepting crypto.

And is the Conservative position just to say no to demands for referendum in Scotland and Wales, regardless of the strength of feeling there or how the, and how the strength of feeling changes in the coming years?

Yeah, there's no, there's no such thing as a new idea in politics, Mims.

Mims.No, because my, um, second HQ when we were doing all the leveling up stuff, uh, under Boris when I was at DWP was in, in Leeds.

Uh, so we, we got out the capital.

I think the first meeting of Number 10 North was an interesting one.

It was, uh, the new prime minister accidentally fell into Number 10 and have managed to sign a property lease very quickly, and my experience having done that at DWP and moving job centers around, it takes months and months.

Can you understand why she can't understand why Joshua Bonehill-Paine has got anything to do with the Conservative Party?

Yeah, I know Luciana, and I know she had a, a terrible, terrible time, and I'm really, really sad when I read, uh, the sentencing and the experience that she'd been through.

Um, I understand there's huge breadth of feeling around this, and Kemi Badenoch, our leader, wrote a really interesting piece this weekend, uh, around, um, second chances, and do they, do they depend on your politics? Do they depend on what you have done, et cetera? And I come to this with a particular slant myself as well as, as Shadow Minister for Women, but also as the, um, co-chair of the All Party Men and Boys Group, where we are really looking at the challenges that our young people.

Absolutely.

Give it a chance.

Um, so for me, I think it's really important that, um, we focus with whatever stitch up or deals, 'cause remember now you're gonna have a new partnership.

You're gonna have Plaid in ascendancy, probably asking Labor to be the junior partner, and after three decades of non-delivery, and I think we've talked a lot about tonight, about what to... where does Wales go u- under Labor? Ultimately, the problem that has been for Labor in, in terms of this, a seismic change in the last 100 years and, uh, nearly three decades of running the Senedd and, and Cardiff Bay, it's been about fundamental lack of delivery at both ends of the M4, whether it's the NHS, transport, education, or the economy.

As Ben says, something needs to change in Wales 'cause social mobility has stalled, and this is a real challenge.

To Tim's point, um, what I would say is we are waking up over the next couple of days, uh, in a very changed and challenged geopolitical time as three separate nations, and that is a real concern for-

If people are so angry at Labor as you suggest, why are they not turning to you? Why are they turning to other parties?

So a few things.

Um, if we're not going to do that, what is the alternative?

alternative?...

Yeah, so they're not tagged, and they're not detained.

So if you're in Copthorne, you have seen people wandering a- around the village.

We have had illegal working, reports of shoplifting, and people feeling unsafe.

A- and that is the, the real- uh, reality for many of those people in what, uh, is a big rural area.

And I was interesting- interested this morning when hearing your colleague, Nick Ferrari, um, talking to the Home Secretary, uh, where she, uh, talked about the, the engagement and how this was being done slowly, et cetera.

Well, we're, we're, we're in danger of stigmatizing the whole group of people for the actions of a very small number.