Andrew Griffith, shadow chancellor for the Conservative Party, announced plans to reduce regulatory burdens and lower taxes in order to speed up development and cut new home prices by an estimated £50,000. Key measures include eliminating the future homes standard and community infrastructure levy, merging functions of Natural England and the Environment Agency into Defra, and simplifying the tax code. Griffith defended these changes as a "bonfire" of red tape aimed at fostering prosperity and dismissed concerns that they would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Monday at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Andrew Griffith, the shadow chancellor, announced plans to scrap regulations aimed at protecting nature and affordable housing. This includes abolishing Natural England and the Environment Agency. The Tories aim to streamline regulations to speed up infrastructure projects like a third runway at Heathrow and lower construction costs by an estimated £50,000 per new home. Griffith also plans to simplify tax systems, dismiss section 106 agreements for developers funding community services, and abolish the £100,000 threshold for free childcare. These measures are part of a broader strategy to refocus on economic growth after the party's worst electoral defeat in 2024.
Written for “Tories Plan Economic Reforms” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 11 other(s) covering the same event.
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith committed to a “bonfire” of red tape as he set out ambitions to lower taxes and speed up development.
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he → commit → development
Billing the reforms as the “the most ambitious deregulation project in a generation”, the Conservatives said the measures would help cut the price of a new home by an estimated £50,000.
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measures → bill → 50,000
Speaking to broadcasters ahead of his speech, he confirmed both he and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch “ultimately” want to remove inheritance tax, but said the party would first need to ensure the move was funded.
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move → speak → tax
He told Sky News: “There’s lots of things that we would like to do, but the job of chancellor is to make sure that those can be paid for.
“
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those → tell → chancellor
We’re going to have a very difficult situation.
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We → go → situation
We won’t be able to do everything that we want to do on day one.”
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we → do → day
Dismissing suggestions that new pledges like the removal of the £100,000 threshold for free childcare amounted to “looking after the rich”, he argued the Tories wanted a “simpler” system.
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Tories → dismiss → system
He told LBC: “We’re talking about GPs, deputy headmasters, senior police officers, people who are in the armed forces, and this is a terrible cliff edge.”
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this → tell → forces
He added: “I talk about a fairer tax system, a simpler tax system, and I want to be a tax-cutting chancellor when we can afford to do so.”
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we → add → system
Asked whether new proposals to axe arm’s-length bodies and requirements for new builds were part of a “bonfire of regulations”, the shadow chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that’s a pretty fair summary in all honesty.
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that → ask → honesty
Read More
“What we’re trying to do is get Britain to be prosperous again.
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Britain → read → What
Give people hope that their future’s going to be better.”
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future → give → hope
Mr Griffith denied the proposals would amount to a “free for all” where local objections to new development go ignored.
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objections → deny → development
He said the plans were “about the agencies, about the complexity, the morass, the spider’s web” rather than “removing any constraints on where people can build”.
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people → say → constraints
To cut the price of a new-build property, the Conservatives plan to ditch the future homes standard and housebuilding rules coming into force next year, which will mean planners must include low-carbon heating technology such as heat pumps or district heat networks.
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planners → cut → pumps
So-called section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy, which can require developers to pay for infrastructure including affordable housing in the area where they plan to build, would also be replaced by a single charge in a bid to speed up approvals.
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they → call → approvals
Natural England and the Environment Agency would be abolished and their functions taken into the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) under the proposals.
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functions → abolish → proposals
Elsewhere in Mr Griffith’s plan is a proposal to scrap the extended producer responsibility, which was set up in an effort to make producers pay for the costs of managing packaging when it is thrown away.
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it → scrap → packaging
Removing it could lift a £1.5 billion burden from businesses, the Conservatives have said.
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Conservatives → remove → businesses
Mr Griffith will also pledge to “simplify” the tax code, which he described as a “cat’s cradle of complexity”.
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he → pledge → complexity
She said: “The Tories had 14 years in government to grow our economy and help people get on the housing ladder, but they completely failed at every turn.”
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they → say → turn
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokeswoman, said: “No-one can take anything the Conservatives say on the economy seriously given their litany of fantasy-land financial pledges.”
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Conservatives → say → pledges
Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick accused the Tories of “copying our policies”.
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Jenrick → accuse → policies
But he said the Conservatives cannot match one of his party’s pledges to raise the personal allowance – the amount a person is allowed to earn before they start paying income tax – from £12,570 per year to £15,000.
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they → say → 15,000
He claimed this was because the Conservatives “refuse to cut migrant welfare, net zero subsidies and the ballooning benefits bill”.
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Conservatives → claim → welfare
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