Lincolnshire County Council hits back as Nigel Farage claims county is ‘broken’

The Reform UK leader was in the county on Tuesday evening for a rally at Lincolnshire Showground to start the campaign for the Mayoral and county council elections.

Andrea Jenkyns was introduced as standing as the party’s Mayoral candidate for the election which, along with county council elections, takes place on May 1.

Mr Farage also announced the defection to Reform UK of three of eight local Skeghness Urban District Society (SUDS) councillors – Coun Adrian Findley on Skegness Town Council and The Mayor of Skegness; Coun Jimmy Brookes on East Lindsey District Council and the Deputy Mayor of Skegness; and Coun Danny Brookes on East Lindsey District Council.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service Ms Jenkyns was a slight underdog in the race to become the first Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, but “she has a very good chance.”

Mr Farage announced all 70 seats in the county council elections were being contested by Reform UK candidates.

“This has been such safe Conservative territory, six months ago you would have said I was a dreamer – that it’s not possible,” he said “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.”

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

Farage criticised both the national Labour government and local Conservative-run councils – claiming, amongst other things, that Lincolnshire County Council was £470 million in debt.

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

“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.

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

Responding on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council, Executive Councillor for Economy & Place at LCC Coun Colin Davie said Lincolnshire County Council was a ‘big organisation’ which invests £1 billion in caring for the needs of 700,000 people across the county.

"To say Lincolnshire is broken is absolute rubbish. Councils borrow money mainly to fund big, long-term projects like building schools, roads, industrial estate extensions, libraries, museums, fire stations, and flood prevention work.

"Borrowing helps LCC invest in communities with things like Chapel Observatory – projects that support economic growth.

"This kind of borrowing is called capital borrowing, and it’s similar to taking out a mortgage — it lets councils spread the cost of vital infrastructure over time, rather than saving up for years.

"This has to be done responsibly and without it the county would just fall apart.

“Most major projects would stall or never happen. Roads would go unrepaired, building of things like new schools would be limited, and regeneration would slow down.”

• 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. Lincolnshire World will also publish the full list of county council candidates when they are made public.