Kemi Badenoch last night vowed to 'bring toughness back' to Britain. 

Pledging crackdowns on welfare, asylum and low-level crime, the Tory leader said voters were 'crying out' for a tougher approach that would deliver 'consequences' for those ripping off the system.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, she said a Tory government would prevent anyone from claiming benefits as a 'lifestyle' choice.

And she called for a 'no-tolerance approach' to crimes such as shoplifting, fare dodging, vandalism and public drug-taking which were 'making life miserable for so many people'.

Mrs Badenoch pledged funding for an extra 10,000 police officers to implement a 'broken windows'-style strategy, which helped clean up the likes of New York in the 1990s, to ensure that even minor acts of anti-social behaviour are dealt with seriously.

But she urged the police to also prioritise crimes that are damaging the fabric of society rather than taking easier options such as pursuing motorists for minor infringements.

'We need to bring back consequences,' she said.

'People who break the law should feel the full force of the law. Instead, what we have is mostly law-abiding people getting caught driving 21 miles per hour.

'But if you drive 21 miles per hour and you park your car and then you go into a shop and you steal stuff, nothing happens. We need to bring toughness back.'

Asked if the public were ready for a harsher approach from the state, she replied: 'People are crying out for it.

'We have been - the Conservative Party has previously been - very cautious because we didn't want people to think that we were too hard. And I'm saying that we were overly cautious.

'We've got to be tough. That's the government's job.

'Let charities do the soft stuff. Government needs to do the tough stuff. We need to do the enforcement.'

The Tory leader's comments came in a wide-ranging interview in which she:

• Warned it was 'already too late' for Labour to turn round its fortunes even if mutinous MPs ditch Keir Starmer in the wake of this week's elections;
• Predicted the Conservatives will improve on their performance in last year's local elections when voters go to the polls across England, Scotland and Wales;
• Said a Tory government would expand the use of live facial recognition to help catch the 24,000 criminals living at large;
• Revealed she had 'celebrated' when Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman defected to Reform, saying the Tories were now at their most united for a generation;
• Attacked Reform's plan to build immigration detention centres in areas that vote Green, saying it was the type of divisive policy that would 'break the country up';
• Acknowledged that the traditional parties are still coming to terms with a new 'multi-party era' but played down the prospects of a deal with Nigel Farage;
• Vowed to axe funding for 'terrible degrees' and offer young people more support to do high-quality apprenticeships.

The Conservatives have already set out plans to cut £23billion from the welfare budget and Mrs Badenoch said she was 'working on going further'.

She said she was shocked by recent figures showing that the welfare bill now costs more each year than Britain raises in income tax.

'It's like the rider is heavier than the horse now,' she said.

'It's just not sustainable. It will bankrupt us, the welfare system, if we keep this going.'

She added: 'We need to remind people that welfare is a safety net, not a lifestyle. It's not there for people who say 'oh, it's just a bit too difficult to work' - you hear people saying that.

'It's not there for people who say "I don't want to get up early in the morning" or "I only want to work part-time" or "I only want to work from home".

'That's not what welfare is for. Or "I feel anxious" - that's not what welfare is for. It's there for if I cannot work.

'If you can work, you should work. So we're taking away unlimited benefits where someone in a household can work and isn't working.

'You've got low-level conditions like anxiety or ADHD. These are not things which should stop you from working.

'Low-level physical conditions as well - tennis elbow does not deserve a Motability car.

'Those are the things that we're going to be cracking down on.'

Mrs Badenoch confirmed that a Conservative government would take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to make it easier to deport those with no right to be here - and to act as a deterrent to illegal migrants.

She said a clampdown on bogus asylum claims was also an essential element in her wider strategy to ensure that those trying to rip off ordinary workers face the consequences of their actions.

Mrs Badenoch also stepped up her attack on the Government's economic approach, warning that a 'toxic combination' of Sir Keir's EU reset and Ed Miliband's Net Zero targets risked producing 'rapid deindustrialisation'.

She said an 'aggressively anti-business approach' would get only worse if speculation Mr Miliband could become Chancellor is true.

'Now there's the prospect of the Chief Deindustrialiser Ed Miliband entering No 11, as well as even higher energy bills thanks to Starmer's worst-of-both-worlds approach to Brussels,' she added.

'This is a toxic combination for British industry.'