Badenoch: We should be worrying about strength of the military, not prosecuting veterans

We should be worrying about the strength of the military, and not prosecuting veterans, Kemi Badenoch said in her speech as she closed the party's conference in Manchester.

The party leader said that the country should not drift in trying to solve UK-wide problems in her wide-ranging speech to a packed audience at the Tory party conference.

"We cannot drift our way into solving these problems," the Conservative Party leader told the packed hall in Manchester's Central Convention Complex. "We know what drift looks like."

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She went on: "It looks like letting our veterans face vexatious prosecutions, when we should be worrying about the strength of our military."

Her remarks at the conference come after her shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge pledged to protect veterans who served in Northern Ireland from prosecution.

A trial of a former paratrooper accused of murdering two men on Bloody Sunday is currently ongoing at Belfast Crown Court.

Soldier F, who cannot be identified due to a court order, is accused of the murders of James Wray and William McKinney.

"So, what madness is it that at a time of war in Europe, this government should be reopening the floodgates of vexatious claims against those who served to keep us safe," Mr Cartlidge said.

"Our veterans defended us; now, it's our turn to defend them."

The leader of the opposition also said that one of the Conservative government's achievements of the past 14 years, before Labour took power, was leading the charge in helping support Ukraine after Moscow's full-scale invasion of the country.  

"We led the coalition against Russia's invasion of Ukraine," she said.

Mr Cartlidge used his speech to question Nigel Farage, Reform UK's leader, on his position on the Ukraine war, as Mr Farage initially blamed Nato for the conflict.

The shadow defence secretary also backed Ukraine and said that the party will always be behind people fighting for freedom.

"We will always stand up for freedom and be prepared to defend it," the South Suffolk MP said.