Reform on course to beat Labour and the Tories in Red Wall mayoral elections as polls suggest a bad night for main parties
Nigel Farage's Reform UK is on course for thumping wins in two Red Wall mayoral elections next week, a new poll suggests
Andrea Jenkyns, the former Tory minister, is set to romp home in the vote to become Reform mayor of Brexiteer-heavy Greater Lincolnshire, thrashing the second-placed Tories by as much as 15 points.
And in neighbouring Hull and East Yorkshire, former boxer Luke Campbell is ahead of his Labour challenger in one of Sir Keir Starmer's party's heartlands.
The YouGov poll is predicting a bad night for the two main parties, with Labour on course to lose the mayoralty of the West of England to the Green Party, although the gap is just four points.
In the fourth mayoral election taking place on May 1, in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire, former Tory MP Paul Bristow is 12 points ahead of Reform.
While Ms Jenkyns is on course to become mayor in the east Midlands county, she could yet be stripped of the post.
The former Conservative minister faces an investigation by election chiefs after complaints that she does not live in the area.
While she appears on the electoral register in Lincolnshire, complaints have been made that she does not actually live there - having given several interviews in which she has admitted she lives in Leeds.
Andrea Jenkyns, the former Tory minister, is set to romp home in the vote to become Reform mayor of Brexiteer-heavy Greater Lincolnshire, thrashing the second-placed Tories by as much as 15 points.
And in neighbouring Hull and East Yorkshire, former boxer Luke Campbell is ahead of his Labour challenger in one of Sir Keir Starmer's party's heartlands.
Dame Andrea has said she will move to Lincolnshire 'full time' if she wins the election, suggesting that she does not live there currently.
Last month, she told Lincolnshire Live: 'I have got a place I rent, but I have a son with special needs, and any parent wouldn't pull their child out of school until they know they've won. If I win on 1 May, I will move here full time.'
It is a criminal offence to make false claims on the electoral register or to make a false statement on nomination papers.
The Electoral Registration Officer has confirmed that a formal objection - branded 'vexatious' by Reform, had been made regarding her entry on the electoral register.
The regional mayoralty comes with an investment fund worth £720million over the next 20 years and powers over skills and transport.
Reform has performed well in Lincolnshire, with Richard Tice becoming MP for Boston and Skegness at the general election and a number of former Conservative councillors have defected to the party.
However, the Tories hold eight of the 12 parliamentary constituencies and held half of the council seats across Greater Lincolnshire in last May's elections.
It came as former home secretary Sir James Cleverly said the Conservative Party should stop 'obsessing' about Reform UK if it wants to win back disillusioned voters.
In an interview with GB News's Gloria De Piero to be broadcast on Sunday, the former home secretary urged his party to address why people were backing Reform rather than trying to 'calibrate (our) actions to respond to the existence of Reform'.
His intervention comes as Conservative frontbenchers continue to debate the party's response to the rise of Reform ahead of May's local elections.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a national coalition, but left the door open to deals between local councillors, while shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told a party meeting in March that he wanted to form a 'coalition' of Reform and Tory voters.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a national coalition, but left the door open to deals between local councillors, while shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told a party meeting in March that he wanted to form a 'coalition' of Reform and Tory voters.
But Reform leader Nigel Farage has consistently ruled out a deal with the Conservatives, saying his supporters would be 'revolted' by such a prospect.
Sir James told GB News: 'The question we ask ourselves is does Reform exist because of other things that have happened?
'And my contention is that it does.
'And so if we address the reasons why people are going to Reform, you don't then need to address Reform. And this, I think, is what we need to do.'
He went on to say that the Conservatives should consider why voters, and particularly young men, felt 'disillusioned' with politics.
He said: 'Why do we not have answers to their questions?
'Why do we not seemingly have a way of giving them the opportunity they feel they need?
'Now, I don't have all the answers at my fingertips at the moment, this is what a period in opposition is about.
'If you address those things, you don't then need to play whack-a-mole with policies that Reform might put forward.'
