‘Lincolnshire is broken!’ Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says county needs ‘fresh start’ as he launches mayoral campaign

The county’s public services are broken. That was the message from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as he launched his party’s campaign for the new Greater Lincolnshire mayoral role.

Andrea Jenkyns is standing as the party’s candidate for the election which takes place on May 1.

The party’s leaders gathered at the Lincolnshire Showground on Tuesday for a rally to start the campaign and unveiled the defection of three local councillors.

Farage criticised both the national Labour government and local Conservative-run councils.

“Lincolnshire needs a fresh start, a fresh approach. It’s been tough for county councils as central government has been cut, but Lincolnshire didn’t adapt to a new world,” he said.

“Local councils are broken. Lincolnshire is broken, and it needs Reform. We will put it under more professional business management.

“Policing also needs a fresh start, with so many local people saying they’re afraid of crime and street robbery.”

He said Ms Jenkyns was a slight underdog in the race to become the first Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, but that ‘she has a very good chance’.

“This has been such safe Conservative territory. Six months ago you would have said I was a dreamer – that it’s not possible. But we will see.

“Conservatives have over 50 of the 70 seats on the county council, but it’s not a long shot we win that either – maybe a short shot.”

He hit back at council leader Martin Hill’s recent description of Reform as a ‘protest party without policies’.

“He better come along and sit in the audience – he’s in for a shock. We’re not protesting, we’re very positive,” Farage said.

“Our supporters think the country’s going down the tubes and under positive leadership we can turn it around.

“They haven’t come to stick two fingers up – we need a fresh political mood to turn people around.”

The evening’s speeches were full of attacks on Net Zero, higher taxes, pylons, solar farms, Ed Miliband and diversity programmes.

Ms Jenkyns, a former Conservative MP, announced she wanted to set up a Lincolnshire DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) to slash spending, similar to the US body run by Elon Musk.

“I can be a disruptor who will break up this cosy Conservative consensus where bad decisions are made,” she said.

“I want to look at everything that taxpayer’s money is spent on.

“If you want to have a lean, mean government that works for you, I’m that person.”

The other candidates for mayor currently declared are Marianne Overton (Ind), Jason Stockwood (Lab) and Rob Waltham (Con). The Local Democracy Reporting Service will be putting together profiles on each of them in the run-up to the election.