Kemi Badenoch, whose party currently holds around half the seats up for election on Thursday, acknowledges that the local elections present her with a challenge. Visiting a farm in Lincolnshire, the Conservative leader says, “it is a very, very competitive political environment” and claims Reform UK are profiting through Labour doing so “badly”. Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00I'm concerned about all other parties doing well, not just reform, but Labour and Lib Dems as well.
00:05It's a very, very competitive political environment.
00:08But this time, four years ago, we won about two-thirds of the seats that we stood in.
00:12It was unprecedented. We know we can't do that again. It is going to be challenging.
00:16What's really surprising is how badly Labour are doing.
00:19That is what is boosting the reform vote, making it top the polls.
00:22People are voting for protest parties because they are disillusioned with the two main parties.
00:27My job is to rebuild trust with the public while the Conservatives are in opposition
00:30and try and make sure that we are the credible alternative for when a general election comes.
00:35I am not going to coalition with Nigel Farage. He said that he wants to destroy the Conservative Party.
00:40So at national level, I have ruled that out completely.
00:43My job is to make sure that we beat all the other parties.
00:45And I also think that the public are tired of politicians talking about stitch-ups
00:49and how they can get themselves in rather than what they are actually going to do to make life better for local people.
00:54Coalitions are always an option at local level because they don't get to run their elections again.
00:59I have asked all our local leaders to make sure that they are fighting to win every single vote.
01:04We want to see Conservative councils winning.
01:06And then if they don't win, they can look at who can help deliver a Conservative agenda.
01:10But right now, they don't want to talk about coalitions.
01:12They want to talk about how they will deliver for local people.
01:20,
01:24,
01:29,