Badenoch warns of ‘summer of chaos’ as Burnham prepares for No 10

David Hughes and David Lynch, Press Association

The UK faces a “summer of chaos” while Andy Burnham works out what he wants to do and who he wants in his government, Kemi Badenoch warned.

The Tory leader said Mr Burnham should sack Energy Secretary Ed Miliband rather than potentially promoting him to become chancellor, claiming business chiefs were “terrified” of him being in No 11.

In a speech in London, Mrs Badenoch said the economy was “in limbo” while businesses waited to see what Mr Burnham would do.

She said: “People are worried about capital gains tax, so they are changing their investment decisions.

“The car industry is in limbo again because they do not know when petrol cars will be phased out. Everyone is terrified about what will happen if Ed Miliband becomes the chancellor.

“The same is true in every sector of the economy. Britain is facing a summer of chaos.”

Mrs Badenoch, who has called for more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea, said: “It is time to get Britain drilling again and if Andy Burnham had any sense, he would sack Ed Miliband, not make him chancellor.”

She said Mr Burnham was facing a “harsh economic reality”, with the nation’s credit card “maxed out”.

“Any signal that Andy Burnham intends to borrow even more money will instantly mean higher borrowing costs.

“But he won’t have to pay them, we will, in higher mortgage costs, in higher taxes. And some day this money will have to be paid back, and that burden will fall on our children and grandchildren.”

The Government needs to cut spending and get the welfare bill under control, she said.

She criticised Mr Burnham’s main promise of greater devolution to spread prosperity around the country, saying another layer of politicians would not boost growth.

She said: “They will mean more power taken away from Parliament, but more and more government created all over the country.

“More politicians, more outsourcing of decisions to bodies with even less scrutiny and accountability.”

She added: “He doesn’t have a plan beyond telling mayors to go and sort it out. This is not good enough.”

The Tory leader defended her strong language in condemning Mr Miliband.

She told reporters: “He is the villain of the story of what’s happening with energy. There’s so much, there’s so much language policing ‘why are you using this language? Why are you using that language?’

“Look at what’s happening in the country. Let’s stop worrying about ‘hurty words’ and look at the people who are hurting the country.”

She added: “Yes, Ed Miliband is acting like the Nigerian military dictators who ruined a lot of that country’s economic potential and made it so much poorer, and in some cases bankrupted the country.

“We should not make the same mistake.”