Dame Andrea Jenkyns delivers victory speech after becoming first Greater Lincolnshire Mayor

The new Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire has called for illegal migrants to be housed in tents in comments made in her victory speech.

Reform UK’s Dame Andrea Jenkyns convincingly won the first-ever contest to capture the new position. After initially thanking her campaign staff and those involved in the election count, she launched into an attack on her opponents on stage in Grimsby, lambasting the campaign as the worst she has fought.

Dame Andrea also called for ‘illegal migrants’ or asylum seekers being processed, to be put up in tents instead of hotels. The trio of other candidates on the stage, Labour’s Jason Stockwood, Lincolnshire Independent, Marianne Overton, and Conservative Rob Waltham walked out during her speech.

“I say no to putting people in hotels,” Dame Andrea said in her speech, vowing Reform UK would tackle illegal migration. “Tents are good enough for France, they should be good enough for here in Britain.”

When asked by the BBC about the remarks in a subsequent press pool, Dame Andrea doubled down, and claimed: “I think that’s what the silent majority think.”

She added: “Illegal migrants, people who come here illegally, should be put in tents.

Meanwhile, Dame Andrea said she had “never experienced such negativity and soul-destroying campaigns against me like this one”.

She cited the challenge made against her candidacy’s listed address among several claims of ‘dirty’ tactics by opponents. “The dirty tricks of the US politics I believe has now been imported here into Britain,” she said.

She also said, in an apparent reference to the Green Party’s Sally Horscroft: “The campaign was also filled with irony as one of the candidates stated I was parachuted in. She said it with her South African accent.” She defended this comment later in a press pool as irony.

See Lincolnshire County Council election results here

Dame Andrea said, however, in her victory speech she would “draw a line under” the “dirty tricks” she claimed of her opponents.

Dame Andrea promised to “fight” for the people of Lincolnshire and concluded her victory speech: “I will keep your taxes low, I will work with you, with our industries, with our business, and with our young people. Together, it’s time to heal, we will deliver once in a generation change. I will lead with a sword of common sense and cut through wastage and bureaucracy.”

She promised to work “tirelessly” for the people of Lincolnshire every day. “We have a new dawn in British politics,” she also said, adding her party’s leader Nigel Farage will one day be “a magnificent Prime Minister”. “Inch by inch, Reform will reset Britain to its glorious past.”

She also said she would fight for farmers and “fight against the destruction of our countryside by Ed Miliband”, in an apparent reference to solar farms.

Asked about her priorities, she promised to “root out waste”, even though as mayor, she has no powers to tell councils what to spend their allocated cash on. “Because the most important thing is people are struggling. We must keep taxes low, council tax low. And get to work on building up the skills agenda and ensure that we also finally fix the infrastructure problems across Lincolnshire.”

She reiterated she would create a Transport for Greater Lincolnshire body, “where we get stakeholders, even from charities, and decision-makers to finally get Lincolnshire moving”.

“I will set up a Lincolnshire-wide business association, where we will unite the county businesses, the great industries, and to ensure they’ve got a voice,” she also re-pledged. Asked what was the one thing she hoped to achieve in her four-year term as Mayor, she said: “I want Lincolnshire to be thriving. I want the next generation to not have to leave the county for better jobs.

“I want them to be able to get around the county. And I want those, even with special educational needs, like I’ve got myself and my son’s got, to be given that start in life. I want to make Lincolnshire a better place for everyone.”

Asked how she would work with Conservative councillors on the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) after her remarks on the campaign and criticism of opponents in her victory speech, Dame Andrea said: “I’m going to be the bigger person.”

The other candidates in attendance at the overall result declaration – Labour’s Jason Stockwood, Lincolnshire Independents Marianne Overton and Conservative Rob Waltham – all walked out during Dame Andrea’s victory speech in apparent disgust with remarks made by her.

Mr Stockwood has since posted on social media his thanks to those who have supported his campaign, including his family, and stated in his message: “While tonight isn’t our night, this isn’t the end. I remain committed to Greater Lincolnshire, to listening, to service, and to helping deliver the future we all deserve.”