Conservatives and Reform ready their attacks on John Healey's Budget

UK's rightwing opposition parties hope to get some attention from voters for their rival economic programmes

Chancellor John Healey's first Budget on Wednesday will be a major test for the new Labour administration, but it also poses dilemmas for the UK's rightwing opposition parties.

It is a crucial moment for both the Conservatives and Reform UK to set out their critiques of Andy Burnham's government and details of their rival economic programmes.

Kemi Badenoch's barnstorming response to Rachel Reeves' Budget last year marked a turning point for her leadership of the Conservatives. This week she launched some pre-emptive criticism, urging the government to bear down on borrowing and emphasising her party's proposals to tackle the deficit by cutting welfare spending.

Reform leader Nigel Farage also hit out at spending on benefits, arguing that the government had been "handing out mental health disability like Smarties", which would leave the UK "bankrupt as a country".

However, Downing Street's decision to push back two big reviews into welfare reform -- the Milburn report on helping young people not in employment, education or training and the Timms report on reforming disability benefits -- until after the Budget may blunt the Tories' and Reform's favoured attack lines.

"If Healey at least signals that welfare reform is on the cards, it's then quite difficult I think for the Conservatives to hammer home this message about the need to cut before we've really heard what Labour's plans are," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

This month Badenoch used the Conservatives' annual conference to pivot its priority away from migration -- where it struggles to compete with Reform -- and back to the economy. She promised a Thatcherite approach of lower taxes, less spending and a bonfire of red tape.

But the Tories' record during 14 years in government, in which borrowing soared and the tax burden reached a 70-year record, still looms large in voters' minds.

Labour has this month caught up with the Conservatives to tie in first place as the parties most trusted on the economy, each on 21 per cent, while Reform languishes in third on 12 per cent, according to YouGov's tracker.

The Conservatives and Reform are also increasing pressure on the government over defence spending. They are urging Healey to commit to spending 3 per cent of GDP on the military by 2030 -- the issue over which he resigned as defence secretary in June, precipitating the end of Sir Keir Starmer's time as prime minister.

Branding Labour's delay "unconscionable", Badenoch said this week that if Healey kicked the details of defence funding beyond the Budget into the spending review next year, he would have "an awful lot of explaining to do".

Robert Jenrick, Reform's Treasury spokesperson, on Tuesday accused the chancellor of a "betrayal of everything he said he stood for", and Farage promised to scrap tax on pay for military reservists.

As leader of the official opposition, Badenoch will enjoy a moment in the spotlight on Wednesday responding to the Budget in the House of Commons. But Reform's small number of MPs means they get less airtime in parliament.

Farage and Jenrick plan to publish their own alternative Budget on Monday, which officials said would aim to demonstrate the party's readiness for government. Both have said they believe Labour is incapable of reforming welfare and have warned of a looming economic crisis.

Farage and deputy leader Richard Tice, who is also Reform's business spokesperson, will be in the Commons on Wednesday, according to Reform officials. Jenrick, who, like his boss, has a flair for social media, also plans to attend but will not stay for the full debate, leaving him free to respond online.

"Farage sat through one Budget debate and it took hours for him to be called on to speak," one Reform official said. "So we know the importance of making an impact outside the chamber as well."

Jenrick has dubbed the prime minister "Benefits Burnham" to emphasise high welfare spending and the Tory leader "Kensington Kemi" to highlight her party's support for the rich.

While Healey is expected to raise taxes in the Budget, having signalled a raid on the banks, both the Conservatives and Reform are promising tax cuts -- but to different quarters of society.

Badenoch announced a major reduction in inheritance tax as the centrepiece of her conference speech, prompting accusations she is prioritising support for the wealthy.

Reform has promised tax cuts for lower and middle earners in the form of raising the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 from £12,570.

As well as rolling the pitch in advance, the Tories and Reform will be issuing snap reactions to unexpected Budget announcements on the day.

Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said chancellors always like to produce a "rabbit out of the hat", adding: "The opposition parties will be looking at what the rabbits are and deciding if that's something they can attack."