Farage plots to tie up No 10 in series of legal challenges.

Downing Street has reacted with fury to revelations that Nigel Farage plans to use Reform's control of councils across England to launch a series of legal challenges to tie Sir Keir Starmer's government in knots.

- DAVID MADDOX

The announcement by Reform's new mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, came as she spoke to The Independent in her first major interview since her victory was declared on Friday morning.

She said that high on the agenda were plans to take the Labour government to court in a bid to block net zero projects like solar and wind farms, as well as attempts by the Home Office to house asylum seekers in Lincolnshire. The Independent revealed that another top priority, to sack council diversity officers, has fallen flat after it emerged Lincolnshire County Council does not employ any.

With Reform winning nearly 700 local council seats and holding a majority in Kent, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Durham, and three in Northamptonshire, Sir Keir's government could be facing a flurry of legal challenges.

Taking control of councils means Reform has an opportunity to spend taxpayers' money on expensive legal challenges, which they would have struggled to afford as a political party. It brings the prospect of legal tactics imported from the US to try to bring the government to a standstill by tying it up in the courts.