Andrea Jenkyns’ vow to get rid of council diversity officers as one of her first acts as the new Reform mayor for Lincolnshire has fallen flat after it emerged that the county council doesn’t employ any.
Nigel Farage and Dame Andrea put getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officers at the top of their agenda as they impose their own version of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Doge on the county.
They doubled down on the promise at a rally in Kent last night where Ms Jenkyns and Mr Farage were among a line of leading speakers as part of Reform’s “war on woke”.
Ms Jenkyns said: “We are going to have a Lincolnshire Doge. We are going to ensure that we get rid of diversity officers because amazingly Lincolnshire County Council is now Reform controlled. That is a historic moment.”
However, The Independent has seen a freedom of information answer from Lincolnshire County Council, where Reform now has a majority, stating: “Lincolnshire County Council does not employ any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officers.”
The council had been asked how many DEI officers it employed and what their salaries were. The answer was issued in March just before the local election campaign began in the county.
But in response, Ms Jenkyns told The Independent that another one of the three councils under her remit as the combined authority in the county, North Lincolnshire Council, does have diversity officers.
She said: “I have been told by their employees that the leadership pressure staff to wear rainbow lanyards too. They also have diversity officers, named as ‘outreach officers’.”
Ms Jenkyns claimed that the county council “has all the awful [DEI] training though”.
Sharing documents on the breakdown of a £15,190 cost for diversity training between 2021 and 2023, she added: “Not a lot but still can save a bit of money.”
There were also no diversity officers in Northamptonshire where Reform has swept to power.
The Tories, who still feel bruised after losing badly in Lincolnshire and elsewhere, linked the failure to know there were no DEI officers in the county with claims they made that Ms Jenkyns lives in Leeds.
A Tory source said: “Someone who lives in Lincolnshire would know that there aren’t any DEI roles going in Lincolnshire Council.
“Catchy slogans aren’t always the answer to complex problems. It the latest proof that Reform is a one-man band without the answers needed to tackle the problems facing hardworking families across Britain.”
The revelations in The Independent spilled over into the Sunday morning broadcast round.
Reform chairman Zia Yusuf also claimed DEI officers are being hidden under different titles on Laura Kuenssbeg’s show on the BBC.
"If you take Lincolnshire County Council, yes, they do not currently have somebody with the job title 'DEI officer' (but) they do spend considerable money on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives", he said.
"And they have other people who have basically that same job, but under a different title, partly in response to the fact that they've been inundated by think tanks and activists putting in FOIs (freedom of information requests),"
He said Reform would send "teams" into councils, adding: "We'll be opening up application shortly. We want the brightest and the best.
"If you've got experience in audit, if you've got experience in fixing potholes, if you're a software engineer.
"We're going to bring taskforces in. We're now going to have access to the contract, access to the numbers, access to payroll, and we're going to make these changes."
However, union officials have issued warnings about the plans by Reform to sack DEI and net zero officers in most of the other councils they took control of.
DEI employees exist in Kent, Durham, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “This is not the US. Thankfully workers in the UK have laws to protect them from bad employers. And soon employees will get even more protection from unscrupulous bosses when the government’s new employment rights come in.
“Reform has consistently voted against these new measures that will make work more secure. So much for being on the side of ordinary working people.
“Rather than attacking hard-working council staff, Mr Farage should be focusing on his own job representing the people of Clacton. But judging by his voting and speaking record in the House of Commons, he’d clearly rather be making big bucks elsewhere.”
She added: “Unions are there to ensure no one can play fast and loose with the law. Any staff working for councils now controlled by Reform, and who aren’t yet members, should sign up so they can be protected too.
“Nigel Farage and his party's new councillors have much to learn about local government. They’ll quickly discover there's nothing left to cut and many authorities are balancing on the edge of the financial precipice.”
Ms McAnea was responding to Mr Farage telling DEI officers or those working on climate change via Sky News: “I think you all better really be seeking alternative careers, very, very quick.”
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