Reform warned to deliver in Lincolnshire as former environment boss says county’s ‘golden age’ is over

Conservative Colin Davie, now the former portfolio holder for environment, economic development and planning, also warned that Reform must stick to its election promises—or risk deepening public disillusionment with politics.

Nigel Farage’s party has so far won all the seats in Boston and East Lindsey, and all but one in South Holland. With three more added in Lincoln, they now hold 30 seats—just six short of the 36 needed for an overall majority.

Mr Davie lost his seat to Reform’s Danny Brookes by 1,704 votes to 784.

Speaking after the result, he said: “The golden age for Lincolnshire I think has now ended.

“The good thing is, of course, that Reform UK—who have spent all this time telling everyone how rubbish their lives are, how terrible everything is, how everything is broken, how everything is bankrupt and how we’re terrible people—they now run the council.

“So they are responsible for your children’s buses to school, they are responsible for fixing the potholes they have promised to fix, they are responsible for paying down the debt they think they have incurred, and they need to come up with, I think in three months, a new budget for Lincolnshire which sets out how they are going to do the things they have promised and all this garbage they sent through people’s doors.”

Mr Davie warned that Reform’s inexperience could have consequences.

He said: “Now, for the first time, Reform UK actually have to run something, and we know from UKIP experiences —they bankrupt things and crash things.

“For instance, they have to deal with the chief executive, who they’ve said they’re going to cut her salary. How are our chief operating staff going to function under the likelihood that their salaries are going to be under pressure?”

He continued: “We have worked hard over the last 12 years to build a Lincolnshire fit for the future, fit for our kids to inherit.

“They [Reform] now need to stop the pylons, they now need to build the Orby bypass they have talked about, they now need to stop the solar farms—because that’s what they campaigned on.

“They are in charge of Lincolnshire. It’s their job to sort it and they better do it, because the disillusionment that exists in politics in this country—and in this county—will only grow and worsen, and there will be no excuses anymore.

“They are in charge, they are responsible, and they better deliver.”