Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has made her second visit to Kent in six weeks, declaring her party can cling onto power at the county council elections on May 1.
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00:00Flowers might be blossoming on this Sevenoaks farm this morning, but is there a spring in
00:05Kemi-Badenhock's step ahead of next week's election?
00:09She'll be hoping to swing those photos lost at last year's general election back to the
00:14Conservatives.
00:15These are exactly the sorts of ideas that we want to get, we just want to start fresh
00:20rather than just building on.
00:22But a new party entering the political field could throw those plans into chaos.
00:28How scared are you of Reform UK's prospects in Kent?
00:32I'm not scared of anything.
00:34This is a very competitive political environment.
00:37Every party is a threat, and what I've said is that we win by making sure that we have
00:41the best and most compelling offer, and that's what I'm working on.
00:44And Kemi, what will voters get in return if the Conservatives are re-elected to County
00:50Council next week, particularly after years of cutbacks to discretionary services?
00:56We have been living in a very challenging economic environment, and what I tell people is that
01:01even within those circumstances, the Conservative councils are the ones that have been delivering.
01:06I'm not saying it's been easy, but you only need to look at Birmingham, where they've
01:09gone bankrupt, where people paid council tax and yet their rubbish wasn't picked up, rats
01:14are running all around the streets.
01:16That's what you get when you treat local government elections like an opinion pool.
01:19You need to look at who's going to get you the best services.
01:22The Tories have held Kent County Council for most of its history, aside from a brief spell
01:27in the 1990s.
01:29It should be a stronghold, but is it still?
01:33This is what voters in Sevenoaks think.
01:35They do better than Labour, do better than the Dems, and I don't trust reform because they
01:41seem to be very disjointed at the moment.
01:44As a young party, they've had no experience of any kind of leadership.
01:50Politicians now are in it for a career rather than actually wanting to serve people, and
01:56they're absolutely in it for themselves.
01:58Not particularly, but I don't trust any of the parties that much.
02:03Back on the farm, the party's hoping its stance on inheritance tax will herd support its way.
02:09But at County Council level, they'll have little influence on that, but rather potholes,
02:14adult social care and children with special educational needs.
02:18With little more than a week till polling day, Kenny Badenock will be hoping the Conservatives
02:24retain control of Kent County Council.
02:27Polling so far hasn't been good, but will the grass be greener on the other side?
02:32Gabriel Morris, near Sevenoaks.