ANDREA Jenkyns has been elected the first Reform UK mayor as voters in England were seen to abandon Labour and the Tories across the country.
Jenkyns, a former Tory minister, was elected for Reform UK as the first Greater Lincolnshire mayor with a majority of almost 40,000 over the Conservatives.
Speaking after being elected, Jenkyns said her opponents “undemocratically tried to remove me from the ballot” but that she now wished them all well as it was “insignificant now”.
She added: “What a long night. Thank you. To the people of Lincolnshire, thank you for putting your trust in me. I will work tirelessly for you every day.
“To Nigel (Farage), to Richard (Tice) and to Zia (Yusuf), I thank you for your friendship, for your support and getting me through these last few difficult weeks. I’m immensely proud to be part of the Reform family, so thank you for welcoming me.
“I’ve fought many elections – four general elections, my third local election – but I’ve never experienced such negativity and soul-destroying campaigns against me like this one.
“The dirty tricks in US politics, I believe, is now been imported here into Britain.”
Elsewhere, Reform’s victory in Runcorn and Helsby by just six votes has set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the Second World War.
Speaking at the by-election count, where he arrived moments before party candidate Sarah Pochin was declared the winner, Farage was asked why he thought Keir Starmer had not visited the constituency during the campaign.
He said: “Because he’s a coward. He doesn’t lead from the front.
“He obviously feared they might lose, therefore he didn’t come.
“I knocked on doors for eight hours today and I would have been here in this hall with our candidate regardless, whether we had won or lost by six votes.”
He said Starmer was “caution, caution, caution” and added: “No one really knows quite what he actually believes.”
Labour party chairwoman Ellie Reeves denied Starmer had failed to take the by-election seriously enough, telling Sky News: “Prime ministers don’t normally campaign in by-elections. The Prime Minister has been getting on with running the country, for example saving British Steel, visiting Jaguar Land Rover, representing the UK at the Pope’s funeral.”
Asked whether Stamer had not taken the seat seriously enough, she said: “That’s not right at all.
“He’s been getting on with… running the country, taking those important decisions that were needed, and it isn’t normal for a prime minister to campaign in a by-election.”
Meanwhile, Reform looks set to gain control of Staffordshire County Council after taking 24 of the 30 seats to be counted overnight, with the Conservatives winning the other six.
It means when counting resumes later on Friday, the party needs to win just eight more seats to have a majority on the council.
