Kemi Badenoch: We have 'fight on our hands' against separatists determined to break up Britain

Kemi Badenoch has launched a fightback against separatists running Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and declared that the Tories will win the next General Election ‘for everyone who wants to see our great country united’. The Conservative leader told her party that it has a ‘fight on our hands’ with pro-independence parties running all the devolved parliaments but said it can win for everyone that supports unity and wants to see common sense restored. She condemned Andy Burnham for having ‘clumsily opened the door to a second independence referendum’. Mrs Badenoch also highlighted her party’s resounding victory in the Aberdeen South by-election, which had been billed as a local referendum on North Sea drilling, and said it was down to understanding what was wrong and having a plan to put it right, and said that success can be replicated across the country. In her keynote address to the Conservative conference in Birmingham , she said that a ‘fight is coming in British politics’ which will be ‘a battle for the soul of this nation’ and said the Tories are the only party ‘with the team and the plan to get Britain working again’. She said: ‘I told you that we have a fight on our hands. There are separatists running not just Scotland, but Wales and Northern Ireland too. Kemi Badenoch told her party that it has a ‘fight on our hands’ with pro-independence parties running all the devolved parliaments ‘And our Prime Minister clumsily opened the door to a second Scottish referendum, while his leader in Scotland actively supports one. ‘Only the Conservatives will fight properly for our union, and (Scottish Conservative leader) Russell Findlay and (Welsh Conservative leader) Darren Millar are on the frontline of that fight. I am proud to have them leading our parties in Scotland and in Wales and we need to give them all our support.’ Mr Burnham faced criticism from other pro-Union parties for suggesting that ‘majority public support’ could trigger a rerun of the 2014 separation vote, and comparing the situation in Scotland to Northern Ireland. He later attempted to clarify the position and insisted that an independence referendum was ‘off limits’. In his Labour conference speech last week, he also said he is ‘utterly determined’ to prove John Swinney wrong following the First Minister’s claim that he would be the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. During her speech yesterday, Mrs Badenoch also said that the Aberdeen South by-election, where Douglas Lumsden secured nearly half the vote to trounce the SNP in the seat previously held by Stephen Flynn, ‘shows that we can win wherever we get our message across’. She said the Tories are ‘coming back’ in Aberdeen South and everywhere across the country. ‘We are going to win,’ she said. ‘Not for ourselves, but for our country, for every hard-working person out there, for everyone who wants to see common sense restored, for everyone who wants to see Britain working again. ‘We are going to win for everyone who wants to see our great country united.’ She said Mr Lumsden’s campaign was in support of ‘thousands of people’s jobs’ and was the party’s first by-election victory in Scotland for a Westminster seat in nearly 60 years. Mrs Badenoch added: ‘Douglas won because we understood what was wrong and we had a plan to put it right. ‘We made it clear whose side we were on, we fought for them and we are going to do that everywhere in our country.’ Returning later in the speech to the issue of the need for new oil and gas licences, she said that importing can increase emissions. She said: ‘People in Aberdeen told me that their city is dying. The Government’s energy policy is killing Aberdeen. ‘No more. We will drill in the North Sea, increase our tax revenues, and drive down energy prices. ‘We need oil and gas, we need renewables, we need nuclear. ‘We will build new small modular reactors, because our mission is for cheap, clean, abundant energy.’ Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: ‘This fantastic speech by Kemi underlined why she must be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ‘It was full of common-sense plans to grow the economy, rein in the out-of-control benefits bill and to bolster the nation’s defences in these volatile times. ‘And she proved once again that she will always stand up for Scotland’s place in a strong United Kingdom. She gets Scotland and shares my fury at the damage being done by both the SNP and Labour governments. ‘Under the Conservatives we will end their war on oil and gas and get Britain drilling again. We will deliver a welfare system that stops people being trapped on a life on benefits. ‘We are a united party who are standing firm against separatist plans to destroy the United Kingdom and I will continue to work closely with Kemi and colleagues across the country to stop that from ever happening.’ SNP MP David Linden said: ‘Kemi Badenoch is right to recognise that the future of these islands is now front and centre - constitutional change is coming and the British Prime Minister should ready himself to engage with that reality. ‘As Andy Burnham rightly agreed, it is for the people of Scotland to decide our own future and we look forward to the campaign. ‘The Better Together band are going back on tour - but Scottish voters will hardly be convinced by a unionist campaign headed up this time by Burnham, Badenoch and Farage.’