Badenoch was asked about Britain's 'number one priority' - her answers were surprising

They were not, bluntly, the answers I expected from Kemi Badenoch - a champion of growth and scourge of the "blockers".

I spent the afternoon with the Tory leader during her last campaign visit outside London. We talked about the local election results and its challenges, her views on Nigel Farage and his £5m "gift", and the role of charm in politics.

She was honest about the scale of the job ahead, blaming "multiparty politics" as the reason for likely losses on Thursday. But she urged people to measure her against last year's results rather than pointing out she'd gone backwards since the general election.

I also wanted to interrogate her instincts on what she says is the number one priority for Britain - growth - and ask her about some of the stories about growth, blockages, and the role of local councils in saying no and raising taxes.

I was surprised by the answers.

Given the clarity of the national message on the need for growth, I was curious how she responded to findings of a Sky News investigation that seven of the top 10 councils with the highest number of "unreasonable decisions" on planning on appeal were Tory.

Rather than promise to clear red tape and side with business, she instead defended the right of Tory councils to say no to infrastructure projects.

Indeed, the Tory leader went further, adding that people outside London were justified in feeling resentful at developments in their area because the capital did not have to shoulder its fair share of development.

I put to her that 181 cases of "unreasonable" planning decisions were made by the seven top Tory councils alone, and asked if the reality was that "Tory councils are NIMBY councils".

She started by saying she had not seen the research, but would probably dispute it.

But then she suggested she understood where blockers were coming from, saying: "Most people are now very resentful of a lot of infrastructure because they think that things are imposed on their communities while other people are getting away with not doing that.

"You look at London. London building has fallen by about 80%, this is one of the things that's going wrong, and then lots of other areas are having to pick up the burden. So I do understand sometimes why some councillors feel that they're having to pick up an unfair share of the burden while Labour allows its councils to get away with it."

Asked again if the Tories locally were blocking growth unreasonably, again Ms Badenoch sided against the builders, citing approvingly an example of blocking in her own constituency.

"Every local council has its own unique issues. In my area, for instance, we have a problem with pylons that are being driven by Ed Miliband's net zero agenda. It's not actually going to help deliver cheaper, cleaner energy for the people who are there. I think we're right to oppose that. It all depends on the specifics."

Then there is tax. She often asserts that Tory councils have a better track record on council tax than those led by other parties. But this year, some 30 of the 35 Tory-led councils have put up council tax near or at the maximum permitted without a referendum - a pattern broadly similar to those councils run by other parties.

Again, her answer was to defend the councils, rather than acknowledge there might be a challenge with the party's low-tax rhetoric or need to work harder to bring down council tax.

She said: "One of the things that we need to recognise is that many councils get their money from the government. You look at the rural payments grants. Labour has changed this to favour urban areas. That's one of reasons why Conservative councils, which are quite often in rural areas, are having to do things differently.

"But you look at the services they provide. They're still delivering more compared to other councils… I'm not saying Conservative councils are perfect. I'm not saying they don't do anything wrong, but across the board, you can rely on them."

Kemi Badenoch is the least unpopular party leader in some polls (-6 in one survey this week) and more popular than the Tory brand because she is seen as able to speak honestly about the situation. But in the heat of battle, this close to an election, the tug of politics on the ground remains curiously at odds with the national message.

This close to an election, her priority turns out to be telling people what they want to hear. Let's see how that fares on Thursday.

This interview is part of a series that Sky News will be conducting with party leaders ahead of the May elections.

(c) Sky News 2026: Badenoch was asked about Britain's 'number one priority' - her answers were surprising