![\"Kemi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kemi-badenoch.jpg\")
<\/p>\nConservative leader Kemi Badenoch will declare “war” on Britain’s economic decline under Labour today, as she unveils plans for what she describes as an “economic revolution”.<\/p>\n
The proposals would dismantle regulations introduced by then-prime minister Gordon Brown following the 2008 financial crisis, marking a significant shift from almost two decades of oversight in the City.<\/p>\n
At the centre of the package is a proposal to abolish ring-fencing requirements, which currently require banks to separate their retail banking operations from investment banking activities.<\/p>\n
Britain is the only major economy to maintain such stringent separation rules, with critics arguing the regime has reduced London’s competitiveness compared with Wall Street and other international financial centres.<\/p>\n
The Tories estimate their reforms could unlock \u00a3450billion in additional investment.<\/p>\n
The plans would also reduce the amount of capital banks are required to hold against their assets.<\/p>\n
Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride has argued existing requirements oblige banks to set aside substantial sums that could otherwise be used to support mortgage lending and loans to small businesses.<\/p>\n
The Conservatives also intend to abolish the Financial Ombudsman Service and replace it with a new adjudication body that would be required to operate strictly within existing legislation and regulatory guidance.<\/p>\n
Kemi Badenoch is unveiling banking reform plans, including scrapping ring-fencing rules<\/p>\n
| <\/p>\n
GETTY<\/p>\n
The party argues the ombudsman’s ability to rule against firms that have complied with the law has created uncertainty within the financial sector.<\/p>\n
Conservatives say concerns about retrospective decisions have encouraged banks to adopt a more cautious approach to lending, reducing access to credit and increasing costs for consumers.<\/p>\n
Ms Badenoch is expected to tell delegates at TheCityUK conference: “You may have heard I am a culture warrior.<\/p>\n
“I am going to fix the culture.<\/p>\n
![\"Mel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mel-stride.png\")
Sir Mel Stride is the Conservatives’ shadow chancellor<\/p>\n
| GB NEWS<\/p>\n
“The culture of regulators. The culture of the Treasury. The culture of risk aversion.”<\/p>\n
She is also expected to describe the plans as “an economic revolution”.<\/p>\n
The Conservative leader is expected to argue Britain’s financial services sector has become more heavily regulated than other major global markets.<\/p>\n
“The desire for a zero-risk environment means Britain’s financial services sector is now more regulated than any other major market in the world,” she will claim.<\/p>\n
“It is cheaper and easier to do business elsewhere, and so London is having its lunch eaten.<\/p>\n
“We expect this to free up hundreds of billions of pounds in capital and help to create new jobs, increasing prosperity and bringing down the cost of living.”<\/p>\n
The Government has already announced plans to ease ring-fencing requirements, with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby stating in May reforms could unlock \u00a380billion in additional lending.<\/p>\n
However, the Conservative proposals would go further by removing the regime entirely rather than modifying existing rules.<\/p>\n
The banking sector has welcomed engagement from political parties on measures aimed at boosting competitiveness.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for UK Finance said: “Financial services are vitally important to the UK economy, and we welcome engagement on how to get the best from the sector and enhance UK competitiveness.<\/p>\n
“Ensuring reforms are delivered, from enabling responsible risktaking to reform of bank capital requirements, will help the sector support investment and growth across the wider economy.”<\/p>\n
Reform UK has also sought to strengthen ties with the financial sector, with deputy leader Richard Tice hosting a series of breakfast meetings with City professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will declare “war” on Britain’s economic decline under Labour today, as she unveils plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,61,1294,59,2222,229,56,44208,54,55],"class_list":["post-646309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-conservative-party","tag-economy","tag-gb","tag-money","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}