Reform to lead Greater Lincolnshire after Andrea Jenkyns is elected as the authority's first mayor

Reform UK's Andrea Jenkyns revealed it had been a difficult campaign.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns has been named as Greater Lincolnshire's first ever mayor after winning the election today.

Andrea Jenkyns was elected for Reform UK as the first Greater Lincolnshire mayor with a majority of almost 40,000 over the Conservatives.

The former Conservative MP has won eight out of the nine districts to seal the victory.

Rob Waltham, the Conservative candidate, is second, with Labour's Jason Stockwood in third.

Turnout was around 29.9%.

Jenkyns will represent 1.1million people as leader of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA).

All of Lincolnshire had a say in the election, with people living in the Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council, and North East Lincolnshire Council areas voting.

Those three councils will stay in place - for now at least - but some of their powers will be devolved to the new mayor.

Speaking after being elected as the first Greater Lincolnshire mayor, Dame Andrea Jenkyns said: “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.”She continued:

“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 the US politics I believe is now been imported here into Britain.”

Ms 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”.

Full result for Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election:

- Dame Andrea Jenkyns (Reform) 104,133 (42.03%)

- Rob Waltham (C) 64,585 (26.07%)

- Jason Stockwood (Lab) 30,384 (12.26%)

- Marianne Overton (Ind) 19,911 (8.04%)

- Sally Horscroft (Green) 15,040 (6.07%)

- Trevor Young (LD) 13,728 (5.54%)

Reform majority: 39,548 (15.96%)

Electorate 828,613; Turnout 247,781 (29.90%)

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