Latest news with #GreaterLincolnshire
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour changes mayoral vote system after Reform victories
Labour is changing the voting system for mayors after Reform UK swept to victory in two mayoral elections in May. As part of a 'radical reset' Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government Secretary, will ditch the UK's first-past-the-post voting system, in which the candidate with the most ballots wins. It will be replaced at mayoral level by a European-style system known as the 'supplementary vote' where candidates are ranked by preference. The move is a return to the arrangement that was previously used to elect London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, as well as his predecessors Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. Reform won one mayoralty at the May local elections with just 35 per cent of the vote thanks to the first-past-the-post system. The party, which Sir Keir Starmer declared to be his main opposition after they seized two mayoralties and ten councils in May's local elections, has accused Ms Rayner of trying to sabotage Reform at next year's mayoral races. Reform won mayoralties in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire in May. A Reform spokesman told The Telegraph: 'Labour is now trying to stitch up next year's mayoral elections in a deeply cynical attempt to diminish the success of Reform. We are on track to replicate our successes this May in next year's elections, so it's no wonder they are doing this now.' The ranked preference system allows voters to support smaller parties without it being a so-called 'wasted vote'. For example, a Green Party supporter would make their party's candidate their first choice but could mark the Labour candidate as their second preference. In this scenario, if the Green candidate for mayor were then knocked out of the contest after the first round of vote counting, their vote would go to Labour's candidate, bolstering their numbers and making victory more likely in the second round. Under the supplementary vote, if one candidate achieves more than 50 per cent of the popular vote on first preferences they win the contest outright and second preferences are not counted. Nigel Farage 's party pledged to introduce electoral reform in its last election manifesto. Mr Farage has long supported a more proportional system of voting that would benefit his string of smaller insurgent parties such as UKIP and the Brexit Party. However, Reform's increase in support over recent months means it can now benefit significantly from the first-past-the-post system. Reform is currently polling at 30 per cent, which under first-past-the-post voting could be enough to win a general election. At the May local elections the party's mayoral candidate in Hull and East Yorkshire won on just 35 per cent of the vote. Their Lincolnshire candidate won with 42 per cent. In the West of England mayoral race, which included the large Labour-and-Green-voting city of Bristol, Reform's candidate almost won on less than a quarter of the vote thanks to splits among Left-wing parties. The party's candidate, businessman Arron Banks, came within 6,000 votes of beating Labour thanks to a three-way split among the 'progressive parties' of Labour, Greens and the Lib Dems. Reform strategists had been hopeful that such a strategy, which a party source described as 'going through the middle', could see Mr Farage's party winning power in unexpected places such as Left-leaning cities. But the Government's changes to the voting system are likely to dash such hopes. Labour have traditionally struggled under Britain's first-past-the-post system more than the Tories because of the larger number of parties on the Left splitting their target voting base. The Conservative Party has often stood to benefit from this situation, but now faces its own split on the Right with the rise of Reform. The return to a preference-based system could make mayoral elections easier for the Labour Party to win, because they stand to enjoy the second preference support of many Greens, Lib Dems and Left-wing independents. This is how Sir Sadiq triumphed in 2021, the last London mayoral election fought under the supplementary vote system. He took 40 per cent of the popular vote in the first round and his total increased to 55.2 per cent after second preferences were counted. While the next London mayoral election is not until 2028, Sir Sadiq has not confirmed if he will stand for an historic fourth term. The race to replace him as Labour's candidate already seems to have begun with Labour MP Dawn Butler announcing on Saturday that she was considering running. Reform is also scouting out a number of potential candidates, believing that it could win the London contest by running a charismatic candidate on a 'law and order' platform. The Conservative government largely replaced the supplementary vote with first-past-the-post for mayoral contests, but Ms Rayner is reviving it as part of her English Devolution Bill. Ms Rayner said: 'We were elected on a promise of change, not just for a few areas cherry-picked by a Whitehall spreadsheet, but for the entire country. 'It was never going to be easy to deliver the growth our country desperately needed with the inheritance we were dumped with. 'But that's why we are opting to devolve not dictate and delivering a Bill that will rebalance decade-old divides and empower communities. 'We're ushering in a new dawn of regional power and bringing decision-making to a local level so that no single street or household is left behind and every community thrives from our Plan for Change.'
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Reform warns it wouldn't take Liz Truss or Suella Braverman if they decided to leave the Tories amid concerns they would damage the party's image
After a string of recent defections, it turns out there are some Tories Reform still wouldn't take. Nigel Farage is set to reject any bids to jump ship from Suella Braverman or Liz Truss amid concerns they would damage Reform's image, the Mail has learnt. Speculation is rife that Mrs Braverman could switch allegiance while Ms Truss has been tipped as a potential defector. Despite the huge publicity value of attracting a former home secretary or prime minister, Reform sources said neither would be welcome. One well-placed insider claimed Mrs Braverman was 'not a team player', adding: 'Her record shows she is just too disruptive.' And the source said Ms Truss joining would be a 'non-starter' as she has 'far too much baggage in the public's mind'. Mr Farage said this week a defection bid by Ms Truss would trigger 'a lot of internal debate'. Reform has brought in senior Tories such as former Cabinet ministers Sir Jake Berry and David Jones this week, as well as ex-MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns – now the party's Greater Lincolnshire mayor. And the source said Ms Truss joining would be a 'non-starter' as she has 'far too much baggage in the public's mind' Mr Farage also confirmed Reform has spoken to serving Conservative MPs but played down the prospect of imminent defections, saying candidates were 'watching and waiting'. The Reform leader warned he would be 'picky' about which Tories to accept, saying: 'We are not the Conservatives 2.0 and we don't want to look like them.' Mrs Braverman has refused to rule out switching to Reform. Last year, her husband Rael defected to the party. After Reform's surge in May's local elections, she said she understood why voters were 'flocking' to the party. But her period in government was marked by controversy. In 2022, she announced her bid to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory leader while still serving as his attorney general. She was forced to quit as Home Secretary by Liz Truss and sacked from the same role a year later by Rishi Sunak. Kemi Badenoch yesterday said Tories who have defected were 'never Conservatives to begin with', adding: 'These are former MPs who do not like the direction the party is going, because we are becoming more Conservative.'
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Leaders voice support for Lincolnshire councils shake-up option
Two senior councillors have voiced their support for proposals to reduce the number of councils in Greater Lincolnshire from 10 to proposals have been submitted outlining how the county should be divided, including splitting up the north and Worth, leader of South Holland District Council, along with the leader of East Lindsey District Council, Craig Leyland, said this option would give residents a "stronger voice" in how services were reorganisation aims to merge councils into bigger unitary authorities, expected to be established in 2028, with projected savings of £2bn nationwide. The northern council would be made up of North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, East Lindsey and West Lindsey, with Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Kesteven, Boston and South Holland merging to create a southern said the proposal would remove the "confusing" current two-tier structure, which includes Lincolnshire County Council."Services are delivered by 10 different councils, creating duplication, inefficiency and confusion," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the two unitary councils would be more accessible to local people."It's built on a simple idea that services work best when they're joined up, are easily accessible and accountable to local people," he County Council previously said its preferred option was for a single unitary authority coving the whole of Lincolnshire, with district councils abolished and North and North East Lincolnshire amalgamated into a second separate will need to send their plans to the government by November before a decision is made. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Click here to download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and here to download the BBC News app from Google Play for Android devices.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Former leading Tory Sir Jake Berry joins Nigel Farage's Reform UK
Sir Jake Berry, a former leading Conservative, has announced that he has defected to Reform UK – in the latest move by a senior Tory to Nigel Farage's party. Sir Jake, who served as Tory chairman in Liz Truss' short-lived government, said his former party had 'lost their way' as he left the Conservatives. Speaking to the Sun newspaper, the new Reform member added: 'Old Westminster politics has failed. 'Millions of people, just like me, want a country they can be proud of again. The only way we get that is with Reform in government.' Sir Jake is the second former Cabinet minister in a week to join Reform, after ex-Welsh secretary David Jones announced he enrolled as a member. Other ex-Tories who have joined Reform include Marco Longhi, Anne Marie Morris, Ross Thomson, Aiden Burley and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, now the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire. The former MP for Rossendale and Darwen lost his seat in the 2024 general election to Labour's Andy MacNae, who had a majority of 6,000 over Sir Jake. Mr MacNae won with 18,246 votes to Sir Jake's 12,619. Reform's candidate Daniel Matchett followed in a close third with 9,695 votes. Since his loss, Sir Jake has worked in broadcasting, hosting a show on Talk TV. Before serving in Ms Truss's government, he was a minister during both Boris Johnson and Theresa May's premierships, with responsibilities focused on the Northern Powerhouse and levelling up. In a video published alongside the Sun's reporting, Sir Jake spoke of his time in government. After claiming that ' Britain is broken', he added: 'I know who broke it because I was there. 'For 30 years I supported the Conservative Party, for 14 years I was one of their MPs, sitting at that Cabinet table twice. 'I want to tell you today my friends that I have come to a decision. The old parties do not have what it takes to transform our country, to build a Britain we can believe in again, and that's why I've decided to join the Reform Party.' Sir Jake, who opposed Brexit ahead of the 2016 referendum, commended his new party leader Mr Farage for having 'always stuck by his principles, even when it was unpopular'. Mr Farage 'doesn't change his views, when the political weather changes', Sir Jake said, adding: 'Because you know you can trust him, I can trust him too and that's why I'm going to spend every day campaigning to ensure that Nigel Farage and Reform form the next government of this great United Kingdom.' A Labour Party spokesperson, said: 'Not content with taking advice from Liz Truss, Nigel Farage has now tempted her Tory party chairman into his ranks. 'It's clear Farage wants Liz Truss's reckless economics, which crashed our economy and sent mortgages spiralling, to be Reform's blueprint for Britain. It's a recipe for disaster and working people would be left paying the price. 'Only our Labour Government is putting more money in people's pockets, boosting British jobs, and delivering the renewal our country needs through our Plan for Change.' A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'Reform support increasing the benefits bill by removing the two-child cap, and nationalising British industry. 'By contrast the Conservatives, under new leadership, will keep making the case for sound money, lower taxes and bringing the welfare bill under control. We wish Jake well in his new high-spend, high-tax party.'
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Reform UK mayor says Bob Vylan's chants show ‘two-tier justice'
Reform UK mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Andrea Jenkyns, said that if Bob Vylan aren't arrested over their chants at Glastonbury, it is evidence of a 'two-tiered justice system.' Rapper Bobby Vylan led a crowd in chants of: 'Death, death to the IDF,' during the group's performance on Saturday (28 June). 'If the police don't arrest and treat them the same way as Lucy Connolly and all the other political prisoners, then they should let Lucy Connolly and the other political prisoners out and give them compensation,' Jenkyns told GB News on Monday (30 June). Lucy Connolly, the wife of a former Conservative councillor, was jailed for 31 months for inciting racial hatred online following the Southport attacks. 'Because this is evidence that we've got a two-tiered justice system,' Ms Jenkyns claimed. Police are assessing videos of comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury to decide whether any offences may have been committed.
