Eligibility case against Reform candidate dismissed

Reform UK's candidate to be the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire is entitled to stand in the contest after she was challenged over her right to do so, an electoral official has said.

Questions had been raised about whether Dame Andrea Jenkyns was entitled to be on the electoral roll in the county, one of the criteria for being a candidate.

But North Kesteven District Council's electoral registration officer found that Dame Andrea was using her Lincolnshire home as her primary residence.

Dame Andrea, who served as a minister in the last Conservative government, is standing in the election on May 1.

Speaking after the conclusion of the hearing into the matter held on Friday, Dame Andrea said: "From the start, this has been a political hit job aimed at smearing my candidacy.

"I am proud to live in Lincolnshire and it would be the honour of my life to be mayor of the place I grew up in and live in."

Guidance issued by the Electoral Commission states that in order to be allowed to stand, candidates need to live or work in the area, own or rent land or property there, or be on the electoral roll.

Dame Andrea was added to the North Kesteven electoral roll at an address in Bassingham, near Lincoln, this month.

She splits her time between there and a home in Yorkshire, where her son is at school, and the challenge claimed she did not primarily reside in Lincolnshire.

But the electoral registration officer said: "I do not make any determination that the subject was not entitled to be registered in respect of the address or has ceased to be resident at the address.

"Accordingly, she is entitled to remain on the electoral register at that address."

A recent YouGov poll suggested Dame Andrea was leading the contest to become the first mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.

Dame Andrea, who defected to Reform UK last year, moved to Lincolnshire when she was seven and went on to study at Grimsby College and the University of Lincoln.

She was a member of Lincolnshire County Council before she became the Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood, in West Yorkshire, in 2015.

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