The Conservative leader 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.

But Kemi Badenoch, who was in the county today (April 22) to meet a farmer impacted by the government’s changes to inheritance tax, insisted “we are going to have to work hard for it”.

Eighty-one seats are up for grabs at Kent County Council next week.

The Conservatives were elected in 2021 with more than 60 members, dwarfing the opposition parties.

But with low national poll ratings, a surge in support for Reform UK and the Green Party and Liberal Democrats anticipated to make significant gains, the outcome is far from clear.

Asked if the Tories can retain control of KCC, Mrs Badenoch said: “Of course we can win. But we are not going to win by just saying we are going to win.

“We are going to have to work hard for it. We have to remind people why they should vote Conservative, and that’s what I’m doing right now.

“We can never take the electorate for granted, especially when we have had such an historic defeat as we did last year.”

With Reform UK riding high in the national opinion polls and predicted to take overall control of KCC in one, Mrs Badenoch laid the blame for its rise on the state of the Labour government since taking power at the general election last July.

She said: “I think it’s because of just how badly the Labour government is doing. Normally, when a party has left government, no one even looks at it.

“They are looking at a [Labour] government which should be having a honeymoon period. Instead, the government, despite being brand new and only in for nine months, is polling the same as we are, so it is not unexpected that people look at protest parties like the Lib Dems and Reform.

“But when they have to make a decision about who they want to run the country, I think they will start to look at what the offer is, and that is why I am taking the time to come up with proper policies, not just making announcements.”

The Tory leader is not convinced the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s “Devolution Revolution”, which will see councils abolished to be replaced by a smaller number of larger unitary authorities and mayoralties created, is the answer to problems faced by local government.

The government believes council reorganisation will be cheaper, more efficient and will devolve greater powers to communities.

An ageing population is putting greater strain on dwindling resources to pay for big-ticket services such as adult social care, she said.

Mrs Badenoch, wearing blue shin-length wellies, added: “Conservative councils actually manage to balance these [issues] very well, even in very difficult circumstances.

“What we need to see is growth in the economy, to get more money flowing in. That means allowing businesses to do more, not putting burdens on them.

“I worry about how Labour is carrying on about devolution - it’s top down, not bottom up. It’s reorganising things without looking at the problems, and I don’t think we will get the bang for our buck with reorganisation.”

At Romshed Farm, near Sevenoaks, Mrs Badenoch met with farmer Fidelity Weston.

The value of the 200-acre holding, which breeds Herefords for beef, would put it within the government’s inheritance tax threshold.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced reforms to the system, which once allowed farming families to pass their land and buildings to their offspring without punitive charges.

Now, farms will have to pay 20% of the value of agricultural land and assets. The government says it wants to make the system fairer and will only affect 2,000 farm businesses each year.

Farmers argue they will face having to sell their land in order to pay the bill, leaving what is left uneconomical to continue.

Mrs Badenoch spent time talking to Mrs Weston about the potential impact of the tax as well as other pressures facing the Kent farming community.

If she wins power, the Conservative leader says she will abolish the inheritance rules.

She added: “I have said this family farm tax is immoral and it is cruel. It shows the government does not understand farming in this country and doesn’t understand how things work.

“If farmers have to sell their land and sell their equipment to pay the tax, they won’t have land they will be able to farm. It will destroy farming in this country and goodness knows what will replace it.”

Mrs Weston, who lives at the farm with her businessman husband Martin, says the inheritance tax has left her family in a quandary.

None of her four grown-up children is yet in a position to take over the farm at a time the Westons would like to wind down their working lives.

And one rule under the reforms - where transfers of assets to others are made more than seven years before death being exempt - has made her future more complicated.

But Mrs Weston knows the value of her land so close to a town like Sevenoaks.

She said: “The inheritance tax is pretty devastating for us. But this is our home, not just a business - we’d probably have to move from the farm.”