Top Tory pleads with young people to stay in Britain

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has urged young people to stay in Britain and support the Conservatives as he highlighted the Tory pitch to young people amid a row over the party’s commitment to keeping the triple lock pension. 

In a speech to party members on Monday, Griffith said Tory policies to scrap stamp duty and cut at least one tax at every Budget would help boost young people’s prospects. 

The newly-appointed shadow chancellor said he wanted to reverse a brain drain from Britain that has seen thousands of young people ditch the country to live elsewhere. 

Griffith said: “Many Labour MPs spend their time talking about safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to come here.

“Well, what about safe and legal routes for our own young people to get a job, buy a home, have a good life?  Does that not count?”

He added: “So, if you are thinking of leaving, whether you are young or old, don’t. Many of the things we hold dear are threatened as never before, but none have yet been lost.

“Stay, stay and help us win.”

The effort to win the youth vote looks to shatter a perception that young adults do not vote for the Conservatives. The Office for National Statistics estimated that about 246,000 British nationals left in 2025, with nearly half being aged between 16 and 34.

In the last year, the party has proposed scrapping stamp duty for primary residences, which could slash the cost of buying a home by tens of thousands of pounds, and reforming student loans to stop debt spiralling. 

In his speech, Griffith also announced the Tories would scrap Labour’s mansion tax, which adds a levy on properties worth more than £2m. 

Griffith’s ambition to cut a tax at every budget

The party has committed to keeping the triple lock on the state pension. Andy Burnham said last week that Labour would campaign on a manifesto to reform the uprating mechanism, which ensures that the pension outpaces workers’ wage growth over the long term. 

Griffith told the BBC on Monday Morning that young people were against Burnham’s plan to end the triple lock. The triple lock on pension allows the state pension to rise each year by whichever is highest out of wage growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent. 

One senior government source said scrutiny over the Tories’ pensions policy was a focus of the media and not of the wider public. 

The former Sky executive also used his speech to say he would make tax reform his “North Star” if he became Chancellor. 

“Like Nigel Lawson, it is my ambition to scrap at least one tax every budget.”