Kemi Badenoch has refused to say that the Conservatives are intending to win next May’s local elections, despite being repeatedly pushed on the issue.

Asked twice to define success for her party at the elections, the Tory leader merely said that she is “going to be fighting for every vote”.

Speaking to Sky News, she added: “Success is going to be people seeing the Conservative Party as the only party that is competent and credible enough to do the tough stuff that this country needs.”

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The comments come as the Conservatives continue to trail in the polls.

New data released by YouGov this morning has put the Tories in third place behind Reform and Labour, a space they have largely occupied throughout the year. The pollster’s weekly voting intention analysis put Ms Badenoch’s party on 18%, down one percentage point.

Ms Badenoch gave a speech on welfare costs in London on Tuesday, where she attacked the government’s plans to tackle child poverty. Afterwards, she sat down with Sky News political correspondent Sam Coates.

Asked about the local elections, she said: “There are going to be local elections all over the country, and there’s a conservative message that I want everyone to hear: Our country’s not working properly.

“There are fundamental things that need to change. We need to create jobs. Otherwise, we’re not going to have money for councils.”

She added: “We’ve seen new parties like Reform come in. They’re making a hash of things at council level. We need to make sure that people can see the benefits of voting Conservative.”

When it was pointed out that she had not defined success as winning the local elections, Ms Badenoch said: “The country is going to decide. We’re going to put out an offer, and we’re going to fight for every vote.”

May will see local council elections, as well as votes for the Senedd in Wales and the Scottish Parliament. They are seen as a crucial moment for the Tory leader – and also for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Ms Badenoch also refused to score the party’s performance out of 10, as the year draws to a close, and she marks a little over 12 months as leader.

She told Sky News: “When I look at the historic defeats which Conservatives suffered last year, things are definitely better.”

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Challenged on the Tories’ position in the polls, Ms Badenoch said: “Of course, we have a mountain to climb.

“We lost more seats [in 2024] than we’ve ever done in our 200-year history. This was always going to be a long road ahead.”

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a member of the US Senate Banking Committee and one of the most prominent proponents for addressing digital asset market structure in Congress, said she wants to take the next step in advancing the bill sometime next week.

Speaking at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit on Tuesday, Lummis said she anticipated that the markup hearing for the Responsible Financial Innovation Act — the Banking Committee’s version of market structure — would happen before Congress broke for the holidays.

The senator said the crypto industry “was getting a little concerned” about the progress of the bill, adding that drafts were “changed so much every few days” during bipartisan discussions. 

“Our staffs are exhausted,” said Lummis, referring to her and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s teams. “I think that we’re to the point where it’s better to go ahead with a product and mark it up next week and then give everybody a break over the Christmas break to catch their breath.” 

She added:

“My goal […] is to share a draft at the end of this week that is our best efforts [sic] to date and let industry vet it, let Republicans and Democrats vet it, and then go to markup next week.”

A markup hearing involves lawmakers considering amendments and changes before a bill is sent to the Senate for a vote.

Although the banking committee released a discussion draft of the market structure bill in July, after the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act passed the US House of Representatives, progress was slowed by the longest government shutdown in the country’s history and reports of pushback from some lawmakers over DeFi provisions in the bill.

Related: How market structure votes could influence 2026 crypto voters

A Monday report from Politico signaled that bipartisan negotiations over market structure were proceeding with plans for a markup in December. Lummis said in September that she expected the bill to be signed into law by 2026.

However, it’s unclear whether Republicans’ timeline will pan out. Even if senators were to proceed with a markup, other obstacles — such as partisan pushback — could lengthen the time for a vote.