Andrea Jenkyns - Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire | Reform Watch
Profile and accountability tracker for Andrea Jenkyns, Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire. Reform UK.
Role: Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire
Party: Reform UK
Recorded incidents (showing 1-6 of 6)
Questions over her pledge to move to Lincolnshire as her Yorkshire home was advertised as a holiday let
Category: other
Left Foot Forward reported on 15 June 2026 that questions remained over Dame Andrea Jenkyns' promise to relocate from West Yorkshire to Lincolnshire after she was elected mayor in May 2025. The outlet reported that the West Yorkshire property she had said she was selling in order to move was being advertised for rent on Booking.com from about £270 for two nights, and that the earlier Rightmove sale listing had been removed. In October 2025 a spokesperson for the combined county authority said she was "in the process of buying a house in Greater Lincolnshire" and was "committed to living here full time once the house purchase is complete". A source told the outlet they believed the Gainsborough purchase had fallen through, and residents of Bassingham, where she had rented a room before the election, said they had not seen her recently. These points are the outlet's reporting and its sources' accounts rather than established fact. Jenkyns' candidacy address had also been challenged during the election campaign, a challenge she described as part of "dirty tricks" by opponents.
Walked out of a meeting of mayors and ministers during a discussion of Henry Nowak's murder
Category: inappropriate behaviour
The Guardian reported that on 4 June 2026 Dame Andrea Jenkyns left a meeting of the Mayoral Council of England with communities secretary Steve Reed and other regional mayors, during a heated discussion about the murder of student Henry Nowak and the disorder that followed his killer's sentencing. Sources who spoke to the newspaper said Jenkyns reacted angrily when Reed spoke about social cohesion and the role of social media and "hostile foreign actors" in inflaming tensions. The meeting followed criticism of Nigel Farage, who had said people should respond to the death with "pure cold rage" and claimed it showed "two-tier policing", and of Reform's wider response. Mr Nowak's father has asked that his son's death not be used to create division. Jenkyns told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was "a total exaggeration" to say she stormed out, though she accepted she left about 15 minutes early, and said Labour politicians had used the murder as a "political football". She set out her account in a video posted on social media.
Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/04/reform-andrea-jenkyns-storms-out-of-meeting-henry-nowak https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/mayor-andrea-jenkyns-dismisses-claims-11001124 https://leftfootforward.org/2026/06/reforms-andrea-jenkyns-storms-out-of-meeting-over-criticism-of-reforms-response-to-henry-nowaks-murder/
Cut funding for English language lessons despite most consultation responses opposing it
Category: other
On 25 February 2026 Dame Andrea Jenkyns pressed ahead with ending public funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages courses in Greater Lincolnshire from August 2027, with exceptions for Hong Kong visa holders and Ukrainian refugees. Adult skills training, currently open to all, will be restricted to people who have lived in the UK for three years. The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that nearly three quarters of people who responded to the consultation opposed the change, and protesters gathered outside the meeting warning it would make it harder for people who do not speak English to integrate and would increase division. Jenkyns said the money would be redirected to improving literacy, telling reporters: "200,000 people are illiterate in our county. We have to do something." She said the new qualification she intends to develop would be "more inclusive".
Lobbied a US oil and gas executive about bringing fracking to Lincolnshire
Category: undisclosed interest
Documents released by the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority under freedom of information, and reported by The Guardian on 24 February 2026, showed that Dame Andrea Jenkyns personally contacted the head of Heyco Energy, the American parent of Egdon Resources, asking how she "could help with your recent gas find in my county" after a major gas discovery in the Gainsborough Trough. The records showed the mayor had met fracking companies four times since June 2025. New fracking is effectively banned in the UK because of concerns about earth tremors, and the government has said it intends to outlaw the practice. Jenkyns has previously said "drill baby, drill" and has campaigned against solar farms and other renewable projects in the county. Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Lily-Rose Ellis said: "This is what Reform's energy policy boils down to: plotting with Texas-based frackers to resurrect an unpopular, failed polluting industry while sabotaging clean, thriving renewables that save their voters money." Jenkyns was contacted for comment by reporters.
Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/24/reform-uk-mayor-andrea-jenkyns-us-oil-gas-executive-fracking-lincolnshire https://www.lincsonline.co.uk/gainsborough/green-group-slams-mayor-for-seeking-to-help-a-us-fracking-c-9454946/ https://www.lincolnshireworld.com/news/environment/drill-baby-drill-lincolnshire-mayor-criticised-over-fracking-talks-with-us-energy-companies-5610961
Asked for a £147,000 increase to her own office budget after campaigning on cutting spending
Category: public expense question
At a meeting of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority on 17 September 2025, Dame Andrea Jenkyns requested a £147,000 a year increase to her mayoral office budget, which would more than double the approved figure of £115,000 to around £262,000. She told the BBC: "I literally have zero people in my team. I have over 2,500 emails each month from constituents. I'm staying up until three o'clock in the morning answering some of them myself." The request drew criticism because Reform UK and Jenkyns campaigned on cutting local government spending and waste. Left Foot Forward reported widespread accusations of hypocrisy. The same meeting heard that the mayoral election that elected her had cost an estimated £2.3m against an approved budget of £1.7m, and that authority leaders planned to ask the government to cover the £630,000 overspend.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y59ln7drzo https://leftfootforward.org/2025/09/reforms-andrea-jenkyns-requests-extra-150000-for-office-budget-despite-pledge-to-cut-spending/
Used her victory speech to say asylum seekers should be housed in tents
Category: xenophobia
Dame Andrea Jenkyns used her victory speech at Grimsby Town Hall on 2 May 2025, after being elected the first Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, to say that people seeking asylum should be housed in tents rather than hotels. She said: "I say no to putting people in hotels. Tents are good enough for France, they should be good enough for here in Britain." The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that the three other candidates on the stage, Labour's Jason Stockwood, Lincolnshire Independent's Marianne Overton and Conservative Rob Waltham, walked out during the speech. Asked about the remarks afterwards by the BBC, Jenkyns doubled down, saying: "I think that's what the silent majority think." Refugee and opposition figures criticised the comments as dehumanising. Jenkyns has defended them as reflecting public opinion on illegal migration.
Sources: https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/lincolnshires-new-reform-mayor-calls-10150365 https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/reform-andrea-jenkyns-migrants-tents-b2743621.html https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/andrea-jenkyns-begins-mayoral-term-with-controversial-asylum-proposal_uk_68146bfde4b0c3c651ebca7f