![\"Kemi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Kemi-Badenoch-e1781529321907.jpg\")
\t\tTory leader Kemi Badenoch is set to make her pitch to the City. PA Wire\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tTuesday 16 June 2026 5:00 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tMonday 15 June 2026 2:38 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tTory leader Kemi Badenoch is set to make her pitch to the City. PA Wire\t<\/p>\n
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will pledge that the role of the City of London would be one of her central levers for driving economic growth, whilst suggesting that financial regulators have buckled to pressure from media and political leaders in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an address to City financiers, Badenoch will argue that the Square Mile has not been properly championed by successive governments, which had treated the financial sector as a \u201cproblem to be managed\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She will also hit out at the country\u2019s \u201crisk averse\u201d culture on investment and the use of savings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her speech will focus on the stagnation of UK equities over recent years and a drop in listings from companies, as well as stifled business investment and productivity<\/a> growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking to industry leaders convened by TheCityUK on Thursday, Badenoch will argue that the City needs \u201cbold structural reform\u201d in an echo of Margaret Thatcher\u2019s Big Bang changes in the 1980s that attracted wealthy bankers and traders to London.\u00a0<\/p>\n Badenoch and her shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride have upped their efforts to appeal to the City in recent months. The leader has\u00a0also opened the door to scrapping stamp duty on shares as Badenoch told City AM last month<\/a> that she \u201chate[s] transaction taxes\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n An analysis by Dan Neidle\u2019s Tax Policy Associates found last month that abolishing stamp duty on shares would represent the greatest \u201cbang for the buck\u201d measure of any tax cut to be made by the government. The Labour government has offered investors a three-year stamp duty holiday for buying shares on newly-listed companies in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n Badenoch enters City deregulation debate<\/p>\n Stride has meanwhile been more vocal about markets\u2019 assessment of Labour and Reform UK. He said that bond markets had handed the government a \u201cdamning verdict\u201d\u00a0 given Labour\u2019s political turmoil while he also promised to strip back red tape on liability that falls on company managers.\u00a0<\/p>\n The debate over deregulating the City has become somewhat crowded, as Reform UK\u2019s Richard Tice and Robert Jenrick have led calls for substantial reform.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tKemi Badenoch warns of \u2018Burnham premium\u2019 on mortgages<\/a><\/p>\n Rachel Reeves has also staked much of her growth ambitions on driving retail investment across the country through ISA reforms and calling on regulators to focus on growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Chancellor is set to deliver her latest Mansion House speech next month where she is expected to outline new reforms for the UK\u2019s financial sector. <\/p>\n Leadership speculation could, however, lead to a change in plans for the government as an Andy Burnham<\/a> premiership looks poised to focus on deeper regulation and further price controls.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018City\u2019s growth can fund defence\u2019<\/p>\n Badenoch will directly link conflicts across Downing Street on defence spending to the government\u2019s approach on the City, claiming that growth in the Square Mile and across other financial institutions could support an uplift in expenditure.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Monday, the Tory leader urged the Labour government to cut welfare spending to defence as she offered her party\u2019s help to raise spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have made several offers to work with you in the national interest to reduce benefit spending so we can invest more in our defence. Sir Tony Blair, the longest-serving Labour prime minister, has urged you to accept them,\u201d she wrote in a letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n