Kemi Badenoch hit out at the government’s “cruel tax on family farms” as she attacked the Budget’s inheritance tax measures in her first questions as Conservative leader.

She also accused ministers of “student” politics and said Sir Keir Starmer was reading from her inaugural session.

Ms Badenoch claimed her party would reverse the changes to inheritance tax announced last week and called on the government to “reassure” farmers who are worried about the move.

Addressing the Budget in his questions, the Tory leader said: “I’ve heard him repeat the lines on TV, ‘fixing the foundations’ and so on.

“What does it say to farmers who face uncertainty about their future as a result of the Chancellor’s announced tax hike?”

She said the Tories would “reverse the cruel tax on working family farms” and called on the Prime Minister to “reassure the farming community”.

Moments before, she had claimed that the Prime Minister’s “written lines” show that he hasn’t even listened to the budget itself.”

The government is caught in the crossfire over the announcement that farm assets worth more than £1m will no longer be exempt from inheritance tax. Opposition MPs have called on ministers to reverse the move which was announced in last week’s Budget.

From April 2026, a 20% levy will be levied on the value of inherited agricultural assets above £1m under the plans.

Although this is still a 50% tax break compared to the standard rate, the move has been attacked by farming unions and opposition critics, who argued it would make Britain more reliant on imports.

Sir Keir replied: “I am happy to help the Leader of the Opposition. If she’s going to complain about written answers, it’s probably best not to read it from a script.

“I’m glad he raised farmers. Because last week’s budget invested £5 billion over the next two years in agriculture. This is the biggest increase, compared to £300m less spent under the last government.

“But when it comes to inheritance, the vast majority of farmers will not be affected, as she knows; as they well know.”

Ms Badenoch also took a look at the Government’s defense plans and claimed “the budget didn’t even mention defence”.

Her official spokesman later said that “If you look at the full context, she was referring to the fact that Labor had not set out its plans to get to 2.5% (of GDP on defense spending) and, indeed, it’s not just her saying so, the OBR has said that significant defense spending ambitions remain unfunded.”

The Prime Minister’s press secretary had suggested Ms Badenoch had “risked misleading” the House, something Ms Badenoch’s spokesman disagreed with.

Defense was mentioned in the budget speech, which set what Rachel Reeves called “a path towards spending 2.5% of GDP on defence”.

Sir Keir told Ms Badenoch that “the one thing I’ve learned as opposition leader is that it’s a good idea to listen to what the government actually says”.

The budget exchanges came after both Sir Keir and Ms Badenoch congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump on his victory, and she took the opportunity to press the Prime Minister about the relationship with the future American leader.

Ms Badenoch called on the Prime Minister to invite the president-elect to address Parliament the next time he visits the UK and highlighted the conflict over Labor campaigners campaigning for Kamala Harris.

“I’m very sure that President Trump will be calling him soon to thank him for sending all these Labor activists from north London to campaign for his opponent,” she told the Commons.

“With the majority of his cabinet signing a motion to ban President Trump from addressing Parliament, the Prime Minister will show that he and his government can be more than student politicians by asking you, Mr. President, to extend an invitation to President Trump to address Parliament on his next visit?”

In response, the Prime Minister thanked his counterpart for “a masterclass on student politics.”

The Tory leader earlier called on the prime minister to apologize for earlier comments made by his foreign secretary David Lammy over comments accusing Trump of being a “woman-hating neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath”.

Sir Keir told the House: “The Foreign Secretary and I met with President-elect Trump a few weeks ago over dinner for about a couple of hours and we discussed a number of issues of global importance. It was a very constructive exercise.”

Ms Badenoch was flanked by her shadow chancellor Mel Stride and shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel, both leadership contenders, during the session.

She announced her shadow cabinet earlier this week and Ms Badenoch is believed to have been keen to address the wings of the party.

Following PMQs, a number of other shadow ministerial positions were confirmed.

Danny Kruger has been given a job on the work and pensions brief, while Wendy Morton, a former chief minister, has a shadow job in the foreign office.

Gareth Davies is the new shadow financial secretary to the Treasury and Harriet Baldwin is shadow minister at the Department for Business and Trade.

Joy Morrisey, meanwhile, will be co-shadow deputy chief alongside Gagan Mohindra.