Top minister slaps down Tory plans - 'they had their shot and absolutely messed it up'

It is a "struggle" to take anything the Conservatives say "seriously" after 14 years of failure, a minister has claimed.

Miatta Fahnbulleh tore into the Conservative record after the Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride insisted the Tories were the “grown-up” party of fiscal responsibility, despite crashing the economy.

Mr Stride will today vow to strip disability benefits from people with "low level" mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression. He will also set out plans to bar non-British citizens from accessing welfare as part of efforts to cut £23billion from the welfare bill.

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Speaking ahead of his speech at Tory party conference in Manchester, he told Sky News: “For far too long, our country has been living beyond its means.

“We’ve got a huge amount of debt, huge servicing costs on that debt and a trajectory for our economy that, I’m afraid, is unsustainable.

“Whilst the other parties are either busy messing the economy up, which is what Labour is doing, or fantasy economics from Reform, we have to be that grown-up party that sets out its stall around fiscal responsibility.”

Asked about the plans, Ms Fahnbulleh, the communities minister, told Times Radio: “I struggle to take anything the Tories say seriously.

“They had 14 years in power and in that time they categorically failed to deal with the housing crisis. They broke every aspect of our public realm.

“So, they can chuck out any ideas that they like. They had their shot and they absolutely messed it up.”

The Tory cash-saving drive also includes pledges to cut cash for foreign aid by £7billion, and to save £8billion by slashing the size of the civil service.

There are now 517,000 civil servants, compared to 384,000 in 2016 - despite failed promises from Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt to cut numbers.

In his speech, Mr Stride will shamelessly claim that his party are the only ones who can be trusted on the economy.

He was expected to say: "The Conservative Party will never, ever make fiscal commitments without spelling out exactly how they will be paid for.

“We’re the only party that gets it. The only party that will stand up for fiscal responsibility. We must get on top of government spending.

“We cannot deliver stability unless we live within our means. No more pretending we can keep spending money we simply do not have.”

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