Andrew Griffith to Promise "Most Ambitious Deregulation in a Generation" as Tories Target Tax, Housing and Red Tape

Conservative shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith will use the second day of his party's conference in Birmingham to set out an economic programme centred on tax cuts, reduced regulation and cheaper housebuilding, describing the package as the "most ambitious deregulation project in a generation".

The speech will see Griffith and his frontbench colleagues attempt to flesh out the direction of travel sketched by party leader Kemi Badenoch, who has already published a 100-page document setting out her guiding principles and how a Conservative government would act if it won the next general election.

Griffith is expected to argue that no external force will rescue the UK economy, telling delegates that only the Conservatives can "inject reality, tell the hard truths" and deliver a country worth handing to the next generation. He will accuse Prime Minister Andy Burnham of pursuing a "socialist fever dream of the 1970s", claiming the Tories instead want "cheaper homes, lower taxes, and less red tape".

The headline housing proposal is the abolition of both Natural England and the Environment Agency, with their functions transferred to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The party has been sharply critical of the two bodies, arguing that Natural England has obstructed housebuilding and the Environment Agency has hampered flood prevention work, and believes folding them into Defra would remove a layer of regulatory friction.

Alongside that, the Conservatives would scrap environmental and energy efficiency regulations, including the future homes standard. Their internal estimate is that these changes could reduce the cost of delivering a new home by as much as £50,000, a saving they expect to be passed through to buyers in the form of lower prices.

The party also intends to replace the existing system of developer contributions with a single levy. At present, section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy require builders to fund local projects and services when plans move forward, a mechanism the Conservatives say causes delays and produces uneven outcomes. A single charge, they argue, would speed up the process and ensure money is spent in ways that benefit residents more directly.

Another target is the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, which obliges firms to cover the cost of collecting, recycling and disposing of the packaging they produce. The Conservatives would scrap it, contending that it places an unnecessary burden on business and that removing it could help bring down the cost of the weekly shop at a time when household budgets remain under pressure.

On aviation, Griffith is expected to commit a future Conservative government to doing "whatever it takes to end the delays and boost capacity by backing the third runway" at Heathrow. The expansion was shelved by the Conservative-led coalition in 2010, and subsequent attempts to revive it have struggled to secure sustained political backing.

Former chancellor Rachel Reeves championed the runway as a growth measure after Labour took power, but Burnham has declined to say whether he supports the project since becoming prime minister, describing it as "principally... a matter for London and Londoners" — a position that leaves the government's stance ambiguous and gives the Tories an opening to present themselves as the decisive pro-expansion party.

The chancellor, John Healey, used his own recent remarks to frame the government's approach, saying last week that all its promises would be "built on the rock of fiscal discipline" and that the Budget on 28 October would "give families and businesses a bit of breathing space". That language sets up a contest over credibility, with Labour casting Conservative plans as unfunded and the Tories casting Labour as timid.

The political context is a party still rebuilding after its historic defeat in the 2024 general election. The Conservatives have spent the period since trying to persuade voters they can be trusted with the economy again, while facing repeated attacks over their record in government between 2010 and 2024 — a period that includes austerity, the aftermath of the financial crisis and the turbulence of the Brexit years.

Griffith's speech is one of a series of addresses by shadow ministers on Monday, all intended to add detail to the broad themes Badenoch has set out. The conference therefore functions as an early test of whether the party can move from general principle to concrete policy without exposing divisions or inviting accusations of unfunded giveaways.

The response from rival parties was swift. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the Conservatives had "cemented their position as a pointless anti-growth anti-business party" by rejecting closer ties with Europe, adding that nobody could take their economic claims seriously given what she called a "litany of fantasy-land financial pledges".

Reform UK economy spokesman Robert Jenrick accused the Conservatives of "once again copying our policies", and argued they could not match his party's pledge to raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000. The exchange illustrates the pressure the Tories face on their right flank, where Reform is competing for the same voters on tax and deregulation.

What remains unclear is how the numbers add up. The £50,000-per-home saving is a party estimate, not an independently verified figure, and the interaction between scrapping environmental rules, abolishing two regulators and replacing developer contributions would in practice be complex. Even so, the package gives the Conservatives a clear dividing line: less regulation, lower costs and faster construction, pitched as the route to growth.