Badenoch Vs Jenrick: Who should young Conservatives vote for?

The protracted Conservative Party leadership race is almost over but Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are still battling to be crowned Leader of the Opposition.

One challenge for the victor will be remaining in post until the next general election in four or five years but winning it after their worst defeat ever will be even harder, especially so given the popularity of the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK.

Key to overcoming that hurdle will be winning support from young people, something the party has always struggled to do.

And, with 16 year olds expected to have the vote by the next general election, the two leadership rivals made their pitch to young Conservative members ahead of the ballot closing on Thursday.

The pair were asked about issues important to young people, which according to the ITV Youth Tracker, include housing, climate change, university tuition and the European Union.

Badenoch Vs Jenrick: Their campaigns at a glance

Both Badenoch and Jenrick have been the frontrunners in the race ever since getting enough nominations to enter it.

They were by far the most right-wing candidates in the field and because Conservative Party members - who have the final say on who should be leader - are considered further to the right than their MPs, it was always expected one of them would eventually win.

Jenrick has come up with bold policies like advocating for the UK to leave the European Court on Human Rights, while Badenoch has instead been wanting to talk about principles.

She raised eyebrows in the campaign with comments about maternity pay being excessive and claiming to have become working class while working at McDonalds.

By the contest's penultimate round it felt to many that Badenoch was losing momentum but she's pulled ahead of Jenrick since making it to the final.

And because he's trailing in the polls, Jenrick has been throwing the kitchen sink at the campaign by frequently appearing in the media, while Badenoch has kept relatively quiet.

But, despite the polls, she says the race is now "neck and neck".

Kemi Badenoch makes her pitch to young Tories

Robert Jenrick makes his pitch to young voters

Housing

Both rivals agreed to ITV News that more needs to be done to help young people onto the housing ladder. They also agreed that one solution is the building of more affordable homes.

Jenrick said he thinks the government should promote developments in cities, not only in London and Birmingham but also places like Wolverhampton and Derby.

"I want to regenerate and densify these cities, to build sample homes and help young people to get the dream of homeownership that I enjoyed in previous generations did," he told ITV News.

Badenoch said she wanted to address the "asset bubble" where wealthy people invest in property instead of stocks and shares, driving up the cost of housing for everyone else, although she did not explain how she would solve the problem.

She also wants to deal with demand. She said: "We have a lot of immigration in our country. It is too high. It's not about what people look like. It's about how much can we sustain. So we need to bring that down."

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University tuition

It may be hard to believe for people in the UK who have just started university and are paying £9,250 a year - but both Jenrick and Badenoch studied at a time when the cap was just £1,000.

And they both agree it is too expensive now. Jenrick said something should be done about the interest on loans. Badenoch said loans should be small enough that young people don't feel "over burdened".

But they both suggested more people should be exploring alternatives to university such as apprenticeships.

Badenoch said: "What I do not want is a society where people feel they have to go to university when they don't want to, or come out with so much debt that going to university has held them back. Going to university should push you forward, not hold you back."

Jenrick suggested scrapping the worst performing courses and using their funding to create more apprenticeship courses.

He added: "It's not fair on students that around 20% are leaving university only to earn less than if they had never gone to university in the first place. That's bad for the economy. Too bad for young people as well."

Climate change

Both Jenrick and Badenoch had similar things to say about climate change. The pair agreed that protecting the planet is important but the political strive to net zero is unnecessarily costly.

Jenrick said: "I want to cut our emissions. I'm not a climate change skeptic, but I do think the way we're going about it at the moment is too extreme."

He added: "I want us to take a more reasonable and pragmatic approach when we do get to our net zero commitments, but we don't do it by hurting our economy and working people."

Badenoch said: "Protecting the planet is a very high priority. Protecting our environment is a critical priority. We are conservatives who want to conserve the environment. The net zero plan I don't think is working. And there's no point just being wedded to a plan that isn't working.

"And that is going to cost us a lot of money. Can even bankrupt us. So we have to look at whether the plan works."

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The European Union

On the issue of Brexit, Badenoch can boast that she voted to leave the European Union, while her opponent campaigned for Remain.

Jenrick has since shifted position and like Badenoch, believes the UK is better off outside the EU. Neither side wants a return to the single market or to the free movement of people - but what about the idea of a youth mobility scheme?

The UK already has such schemes with countries including Australia and Canada. It is a reciprocal agreement, where young people can live, study and work in another country, with certain limits on their visa.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in the process of trying to renegotiate the UK relationship with Brussels its been suggested a youth mobility agreement from both sides could form part of an improved trade deal.

Asked about the idea, Badenoch said "youth mobility schemes are a good thing" but they need to work on a "country by country basis".

"Making sure we have control of our borders is absolutely important. Bringing immigration down is critical. But where we have an exchange, where equal numbers are going back and forth like we have with Australia, like we have with Canada and New Zealand, I think that's a great thing."

Similarly, Jenrick said there is "some merit" to youth mobility schemes.

"It gives an opportunity for a young person to go to work, to internships, to go traveling for an extended period of time in other countries. I don't think that having one with the whole of Europe is necessarily a good thing, because that's a lot of countries. But choosing a couple that we have particular relations with, that's a good idea."

Interestingly, the pair seem more open to the idea of youth mobility schemes than the prime minister, who despite campaigning for Remain, has ruled out any such agreement with the European Union.

It won't be long before either Badenoch or Jenrick gets to face him in the House of Commons as Leader of the Opposition.

The winner of the Conservative leadership election will be announced on Saturday.

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