Kemi Badenoch has announced the Conservatives would abolish inheritance tax on family homes if elected, prompting immediate criticism that she was prioritising cutting taxes for the rich.

The Tory leader also said that couples would be able to leave behind an additional £1m tax-free to their families, as the party attempts to shore up its traditional base in southern England.

The move would mean the number of families paying inheritance tax – which is currently fewer than 5% – would fall by more than a half, Badenoch said, with the plan expected to be paid for from £70bn in savings the party says it has identified.

“My ambition is to abolish inheritance tax altogether, as soon as we can afford it,” she told the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. “I believe the people who work hard and save should be rewarded for that effort.

“So this is my guarantee: no stamp duty when you buy your home, no mansion tax when you live in your home, and no inheritance tax on your home when you pass it to your children or grandchildren.”The Tories’ policy plans announced this week – including support with childcare for those earning over £100,000, repealing the mansion tax and the inheritance tax plans – have been firmly focused on affluent middle class voters, many of whom deserted the party at the last election.

However, the inheritance tax plans are likely to raise fears about overheating the housing market, giving elderly homeowners an incentive to stay in large family homes rather than downsize. It also prompted accusations that the party was favouring the rich over struggling families.

In a statement, Justice UK said: “Kemi Badenoch has just announced a massive inheritance tax giveaway to some of the wealthiest people in Britain. This is a reckless policy that will deprive public services of cash when they most need them.”The TUC’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, added: “This is a tax paid only by the very richest estates – 95% pay no inheritance tax at all. Cutting it would do nothing for ordinary people.

“This is the same old Tory playbook: cutting taxes for their rich mates and leaving working people to pick up the bill. They are a party for inherited wealth, not workers.”Despite the Tories appearing more united this week than they have done for years, Badenoch did acknowledge in her speech that the party, still polling lower than at the time of their catastrophic 2024 election defeat, faced a long path to recovery.

“We have changed our party. There is still a lot of work to do. People are looking through the shop window. They like what they see, but let’s be honest, not enough of them are buying it. We need to fix that,” she said.

Senior Tories have been urging Badenoch to focus more on the economy, which they hope will help them to win back millions of votes in their traditional heartlands, and to pivot away from culture wars and migration.

In her speech, Badenoch said that economic growth would be the “central organising principle” of the next Conservative government, cutting red tape in areas such as planning, building a third runway at Heathrow and implementing a new energy policy, while also creating jobs.

The majority of her speech, however, was devoted to attacks on her political opponents, with the Tories desperate to edge ahead of Reform UK in the polls and be seen once again as the main opposition party on the right.

Badenoch rejected calls from within her own party to “unite the right” by striking a deal with Nigel Farage’s party – reflecting warnings from her closest allies that doing so would risk toxifying the Conservative brand irrevocably.

“A year ago, those politicians were measuring up the curtains for No 10. Now, some of them are measuring up the curtains for their prison cells,” she said.

“The circus goes on and on, and it will never stop because this is who Reform politicians are. So, to those who say ‘unite the right’, we are not uniting with that. People deserve better and we are going to give them better than that: character, conduct and standards matter.”Badenoch also drew a sharp dividing line with Reform on race, after Suella Braverman, a former Conservative home secretary who defected to Farage’s party, suggested that minority ethnic people could not be English.

“I don’t want to explain to my son when we’re watching our brilliant England team play football that some people don’t think our black players are English,” she said.

“I remember back in the day when Ian Wright and John Barnes were playing. Nobody was questioning whether they were English. We certainly didn’t have sitting MPs questioning whether they were English.

“We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are. Reform MPs are openly questioning people’s identity.

“I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but I am black. I am British. I am proud of my country. I’m proud of our history, all that we have done, and all that we will do in the world.”Badenoch acknowledged that last year her leadership of the party had been under intense pressure. But she added: “Let me tell you, I’m not someone who gets written off, and neither is the Conservative party.

“There is a reason our party is still here after 200 years. We have adapted to every single challenge and every single age, and we are doing it again.”