Jenkyns may not be eligible for Lincolnshire mayor role

Reform candidate will face a hearing just six days before vote

- DAVID MADDOX

One of Reform’s most prominent candidates in the local elections is facing potential disqualification over claims that she does not live in the area. Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who is running as the Reform UK candidate for the newly created role of mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, will face a hearing next Friday, just six days before voters go to the polls.

Dame Andrea is currently leading in the polls in the hotly contested county, and was a high-profile defector from the Tories, having previously been a right-wing supporter of Boris Johnson when she was a Conservative MP.

Reform’s local election campaign has been beset by problems, including the party’s ousted Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe announcing his intention to sue Nigel Farage for defamation. The party is also fending off claims that it is trying to recruit disgraced former prime minister Liz Truss.

But the party says the accusations made against Dame Andrea are “vexatious and politically motivated”, claiming that they are an attempt to smear her just days before the electorate cast their votes.