Kemi Badenoch accuses Starmer of 'pretending to be tough' on immigration in blistering attack: 'Britain is not a hostel!'

"Labour is pretending that they're tough on immigration when actually they stopped us from doing quite a lot of things," she said.

"I'm not going to have Keir Starmer, who wanted foreign criminals to stay in this country, actively stop them from being deported, pretend that he is Mr Immigration," Badenoch added.

Badenoch pointed to specific challenges the Conservatives faced in implementing immigration policies, particularly in the House of Lords.

"We did not have a majority in the Lords. So a lot of legislation, the Rwanda legislation, even when we were putting it through, it was getting blocked elsewhere," she explained.

The Conservative leader stressed the importance of acknowledging past difficulties rather than denying them.

"When I stood for party leader, I said the first thing we needed to do was show that we could be trusted again," she said.

On immigration policy, Badenoch emphasised that numerical caps alone would not be sufficient to address the challenges.

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"What I said during the leadership contest is that a cap on its own is not enough, that numbers matter," she stated.

"Who is coming into the country? How are we integrating them? How are we making sure that the people who come to this country care about it?" she asked.

The Conservative leader stressed the importance of cultural integration in immigration policy.

"This is not a hostel, it's not a dormitory. This is our home," Badenoch added.

Badenoch also firmly dismissed suggestions that the Conservative Party faces an existential crisis due to Reform UK's rise.

"It's going to be a long slog. I am here for the long haul. I'm not here just to make a few quick speeches and throw gimmicks out," she stated.

Badenoch added: "I haven't been elected as leader of the Conservative Party to do a deal with Nigel Farage.

"Nigel Farage is an individual personality. He doesn't even have a membership organisation, I have. They're saying they've got 100,000 members now, and that they might overtake the Tories, but what can they do as members?"