Matt Cole
Senior political reporter, BBC Westminster

The phrase has popped up again: "We're the only serious ones." This time Kemi Badenoch was making the claim on BBC Radio WM.

The Conservative leader appears to have honed her message across these interviews - and stressed several times the serious qualities of her party.

Badenoch insisted she was not saying the Tories had been perfect "every single time", but said: "We are still the best option when it comes to who should run your council."

She dismissed some other parties' candidates as "all drama queens... unserious people who are just trying to make the news".

Reflecting on the number of defections from her party to Reform UK, the Tory leader said: "We are a happy, united party just getting on with the job."

But if the results go as badly as some are predicting for the Tories next week, many current Conservative councillors could have no jobs to get on with.

• We're now ending our live coverage, but you can find more on the local elections in England here

BBC Radio WM

Asked about a possible solution being on the table to Birmingham's year-long bin strike, Kemi Badenoch told BBC Radio WM's Ed James (pictured): "This has been going on now for such a long time those bins have got grey hair on them."

The Tory leader pointed to a bin strike in Wiltshire, which she said had been sorted out "very quickly" by the authority's Conservative-run administration. She said her party would do the same in Birmingham if it took control of the council there.

"This is a mess that Labour-run Birmingham have made," Badnoch said. "We want to do everything we can to sort this out."

A Conservative-run local authority would "clean up the mess and get Birmingham working again", she added.

BBC Radio Merseyside

On BBC Radio Merseyside, Kemi Badenoch baffled presenter Tony Snell (pictured) when he asked what the Conservatives could do about local people's struggles with the cost of living.

The Tory leader replied it was mainly about "keeping the council tax as low as possible". She compared how "nearby" Fylde Council was doing better at spending council tax wisely and delivering the best services without wasting residents' money.

Snell replied, pointing out the Fylde coast in Lancashire was "miles away, so clearly you don’t know the area".

Badenoch also talked about how she wanted to "toughen up the immigration policy".

When asked about the closure of hotels housing asylum seekers in Merseyside and alternative accommodation options, Badenoch said: "There are too many people coming from France – that means they are not genuine asylum seekers because France is a safe country.

"They need to go back to where they came from; we do need to deport people who should not be here."

Matt Cole
Senior political reporter, BBC Westminster

A pattern is emerging across these interviews – of Kemi Badenoch stressing that her party is the "serious" one.

"The only serious alternative to Labour", she told BBC Radio London… The party "taking the job seriously", she told BBC Radio Surrey.

Challenged by Sarah Gorrell on BBC Radio Sussex about Tory councils there being "on their knees financially" because of "Conservative austerity", Kemi Badenoch denied her party couldn’t be trusted to run things.

The Tory leader didn’t answer whether her party would take responsibility for struggling councils – but said there were others like Runnymede which are well run.

Badenoch said of Tory authorities: "We are still the best, I’m not saying we’re perfect, but still the best."

Again, she made the pledge that Conservative councils would not "whack council tax up" so much that people can’t afford it and promised to tackle "endless shoplifting and phone theft".

BBC Radio Surrey

About a decade ago, the Conservatives controlled 11 out of 12 of the main councils in Surrey. They lost six MPs to the Liberal Democrats at the last general election in 2024.

Sussex was once the coastal "Blue Wall" dominated by the Tories. Now, East and West Sussex county councils are the last bricks standing.

Badenoch, who is 18 months into her role as party leader, said: "What we are seeing is a lot of disillusionment with politics across the board. People don't feel like they are getting what they are voting for."

She said her party had suffered a "historic defeat" two years ago, but she had been elected to "fix that".

"What I want people to know if that we are taking the job seriously," she said. "We are talking about the issues that mattered to them - how are we going to lower energy bills, how we are going to keep council tax low, how we are going to keep our streets safe. We see endless shoplifting."

When pressed on if voters were taking the Tories seriously, she spoke about a recent visit to Surrey and how lots of people had been walking up to her saying: "You need to get Labour out. We do not want them."

BBC Radio Sussex

Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives can be trusted to run local authorities, stressing councils need to spend their tax money wisely.

Austerity has seen Conservative-run West Sussex cut £300m and East Sussex cut £160m from their budgets since 2010. East Sussex also had to borrow £70m in an emergency loan to avoid bankruptcy.

In Surrey, Woking Borough Council spent £700m on the development of the town centre.

Badenoch admitted this was a bad decision, but said other Conservative councils, including Guildford and Epsom, had done a "good job".

Speaking to BBC Radio Sussex's Sarah Gorrell (pictured), Badenoch said her party wanted to run councils "in such a way council tax isn't being whacked up because people cannot afford it".

"We need to get our councils to live within our means," she said. "We are still the best, I'm not saying we are perfect."

Tony Bonsignore
Political reporter, BBC Westminster

Kemi Badenoch is making it clear that Reform UK are as much her opponents next week as Labour.

"All the councils Reform are running are chaotic," she says. "We vet our candidates properly, some parties let anyone stand."

With Labour facing a potential electoral meltdown in these elections, the Conservative leader knows that many voters will be sizing up whether to vote Tory or Reform.

And in a multiparty world, the winning margins could be slim and every vote crucial.

Her main sell is twofold - the Conservatives are the only opposition party with a serious plan and a proper record in government.

"The Conservatives are best at managing people's money," she says.

In a sense, she's trying to make a virtue of her party's long record in government - at the same time as distancing herself from it.

"I am proud of my record," she says, but "the party is under new management".

BBC Essex

Image source, PA Media

Kemi Badenoch told BBC Essex she would not step down as Conservative leader if her party lost control of Essex County Council after running it for more than a quarter of a century.

During the local elections on 7 May, every seat is up for grabs on the authority that covers Badenoch’s North West Essex constituency.

She told presenter Ben Fryer: "People ask this all the time.There's never been any leader who’s ever been asked to step down because of local election results."

Badenoch admitted her party faced a challenge from Reform UK, but claimed there had been "chaos" since Reform took control of Kent County Council from the Tories last May.

"We are the only credible alternative," she said. "So many of the other parties are messing about."

BBC Radio London

The Conservatives currently control just six out of 32 boroughs in London, having lost three local authorities to Labour in 2022.

Speaking to Eddie Nestor (pictured) on BBC Radio London, Kemi Badenoch refused to be drawn on her election hopes but said her party was "the only serious alternative to Labour".

Asked what Londoners would see under a Tory council, Badenoch promised to keep council tax "as low as possible".

"We're not going to jack them up the way Labour and Liberal Democrats do," she said. "And wait until you see what the Greens will do if they get in."

The Conservative leader then promised action on crime to create "safer streets".

"All of our councils are working with me on immediate justice," Badenoch said. "If you spray graffiti, for instance, it's not someone from the council you pay to clean it up. If they're caught, they're going to have to clean it up themselves.

"And a lot of people have just had enough, they're sick and tired of people doing these things and getting away with it."

Matt Cole
Senior political reporter, BBC Westminster

These are interviews looking ahead to the local elections next week - but Kemi Badenoch’s response to events in Golders Green, where two Jewish men were stabbed yesterday, was naturally the first matter put to the Tory leader on BBC London.

She said she had visited the scene in North London yesterday and you could “feel the fear” of the community, who she said felt the government was not doing enough.

Turning to the elections across the capital next week, Badenoch said she wants to win "100%, every seat" that’s up for grabs.

Saying she wants to win back some councils, she refused to get into what she called "the game show of predictions" about how many wins her party could score.

Badenoch insisted her party was the "only serious" alternative to Labour, pledging Conservative councils would only put up council tax by the smallest amount possible and would work to deliver "safer streets".

BBC Radio Newcastle

BBC Newcastle's Anna Foster (pictured) asked Badenoch whether the Conservatives had given up on north-east England.

Fewer than half the seats in the region are being contested by the Tories, with only 12 in South Tyneside and 14 in Gateshead.

Badenoch said the party had "absolutely not" given up on the region and was fighting for "every seat" it could.

"We know many of those areas have been traditionally strong Labour areas, but the Conservatives are the only credible and serious alternative," she said.

Badenoch was also asked why Conservatives should be trusted to improve the North East, when many places have suffered due to her party's past austerity measures.

She said the best thing the country could do would be to "get people into work and off welfare" and she would make sure her party spent taxpayer money wisely.

• Listen back to the full Newcastle interview on BBC Sounds

Matt Cole
Senior political reporter, BBC Westminster

Kemi Badenoch’s opening exchanges on BBC Radio Leeds reflected her desire to talk about national issues as much as local.

Facing a "tell-us-what-you’ll-do-in-20-seconds" challenge, the Tory leader spoke of wanting to "get Britain working" and to "get people off welfare and into work".

She did later reflect though that these elections are about bins, roads, and adult and childrens’ social care.

But it's that national approach she was asked to defend by presenter Gayle Lofthouse, who suggested Kemi Badenoch spends too much time having a pop at Sir Keir Starmer and not enough focusing on real issues that people care about on the doorstep.

Badenoch pushed back strongly against that though, saying it's her job to challenge the PM if he’s not telling the truth on matters as important as national security – and that this is "real life, not a TV show".

Brought back to the question of the local elections, she said Conservative candidates were people who’d "get their heads down" and focus on the job – that they wouldn’t be "drama queens".

BBC Radio Leeds

Kemi Badenoch said the Conservatives have a "plan to get Britain working again - we want a stronger economy and a stronger country and it's getting people off welfare and into work".

Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds' Gayle Lofthouse (pictured), the Tory leader said her priority was to support businesses - so they could give people jobs - by abolishing business rates for most small businesses on the High Street.

Asked how she would support the people of West Yorkshire, she said she had visited MP Robbie Moore to work on the grooming gang issue.

"That is one of the things that I managed to get Labour to u-turn on, so they could do right for people like you and I," she said.

Badenoch added more money needed to be spent on the country's defence and claimed the government was spending "all the money on welfare".

Tony Bonsignore
Political reporter, BBC Westminster

The Conservatives go into these elections with low expectations.

Partly that is about the last time these elections were held, when the party performed strongly on the back of Boris Johnson's "vaccine bounce".

That could make these results look even worse.

And partly it is about the rise of Reform UK, who have taken so many of their former supporters.

The main pitch from the Tories is that they are "a party that can actually fix things", with promises on energy bills, business rates and stamp duty.

Leader Kemi Badenoch also believes that small margins can make a big difference in a multi-party world, so every vote counts.

These elections will be about limiting any losses and continuing the process of stabilising the party's fortunes after their heavy general election defeat in July 2024.

Tony Bonsignore
Political reporter, BBC Westminster

Image source, Yui Mok/PA Wire

After a difficult start, Kemi Badenoch appears to have strengthened her leadership of the Conservative party, despite disappointing poll ratings and expectations of another difficult set of elections.

A series of policy announcements - including on stamp duty, business rates and green taxes - have gone down well with the party faithful.

Her performances at Prime Minister's Questions have improved and she has led the charge on Sir Keir Starmer's disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

Questions remain, though, over her stance on the war in the Middle East and her broader political strategy to fight Reform UK.

Born in London and raised in Nigeria, Badenoch famously worked at McDonald's before studying engineering at Sussex.

She also worked as a software engineer and financial analyst, before being elected to parliament in 2017.

Under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak's leadership, she held a number of ministerial and cabinet posts and perhaps became best known for her strident opposition to identity politics.

And her election by Tory voters in November 2024 made her the first black leader of a major UK political party.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has started her round of interviews with BBC local radio stations and is currently facing questions from BBC Radio Leeds presenter Gayle Lofthouse.

You can follow along by tapping on the watch live button at the top of this page.

Image source, PA Media

This is going to be the biggest set of elections since the 2024 general election.

Voters in Scotland and Wales will elect representatives to their national parliaments, while a number of local council and mayoral polls will take place in England.

This includes elections in 30 English councils that will now go ahead after the government abandoned previously announced plans to delay them.

In Northern Ireland, local council and Assembly elections are scheduled for May 2027.

You can check what elections are taking place in your local area here.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is about take part in a series of interviews on BBC local radio stations in England.

We've had different party leaders in the hotseat throughout the week as we count down to the local elections on Thursday, 7 May.

Zack Polanski (Green Party), Sir Ed Davey (Liberal Democrats) and Nigel Farage (Reform UK) have faced questions from our presenters so far. Labour have also been invited to take part.

Today is a chance for us to quiz Badenoch on her party's policies. First on her schedule is BBC Radio Leeds - she's due on air from 10:08 BST.

She’ll also be appearing on BBC Radio Newcastle, BBC Radio London, BBC Essex, BBC Radio Sussex, BBC Radio Surrey, BBC Radio Merseyside and BBC Radio WM.

Stay with us for updates and analysis on all the key lines. You'll also be able to follow the interviews as they happen by tapping the watch live button at the top of this page.