Reform take control of Lincolnshire County Council
Reform's deputy leader, Richard Tice, watching results come in at the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election in Grimsby
- Published
Reform UK has taken control of Lincolnshire County Council following Thursday's local election.
The party took 44 of the 70 seats, ahead of the Conservatives in second with 14 seats.
The Tories have controlled the authority for most of the last 50 years and started the night with 53 seats.
It marks a double success for the party, which earlier saw Dame Andrea Jenkyns elected as the county's first mayor in a resounding victory.
Reform's deputy leader and Boston and Skegness MP Richard Tice described the result as a "seismic change".
"We are winning these elections hands down," he said.
"We've won councillors, mayoralties, a parliamentary by election and there's a huge shift going on.
"What is remarkable is that we're taking votes both from the failing Labour government and the Tory party, which is rapidly disappearing down the plug hole."
The previous Conservative council leader Martin Hill said the electoral wipeout was the result of national problems and "easy answers" offered by Reform.
Hill, who retained his Folkingham Rural seat, added: "It's all about national politics, they had very simplistic messages.
"On the doorstep, people were saying they were fed up with both national parties.
"Immigration was a big issue and that's what it all seemed to be about."
Reform will run the county council and its £693m-a-year budget
East Lindsey went to Reform in its entirety, with big wins in Lincoln, Boston and South Holland.
There were also some high-profile Conservative casualties, including Colin Davie, who lost his Ingoldmells Rural seat to Reform by almost 1,000 votes.
Fellow councillors Wendy Bowkett, Daniel McNally, Patricia Bradwell and William Gray, who have decades of council experience between them, will also be leaving the chamber.
All 70 council seats were up for election
The Liberal Democrats narrowly managed to retain two seats in Gainsborough, including that of district council leader and Mayoral candidate, Trevor Young, who won by 17 votes.
Elsewhere, the Lib Dems picked up two new seats, ending the night with five councillors.
Independent Richard Cleaver won big in Stamford West.
The South Holland Independents lost all three of their seats.
Labour lost one seat and are now down to three councillors.
The newly elected Reform councillors are due to meet early next week to elect a group leader and their choice will be confirmed by a meeting of the full council on 23 May.
Analysis by Alan Webber, BBC Radio Lincolnshire political reporter
To echo the words of the UK's Eurovision entry, "what the hell just happened" in Lincolnshire?
The answer: "A tidal wave of Reform crashing over us".
Those are the words of Martin Hill, who led Lincolnshire County Council for 20 years, but not for much longer.
The Tories have controlled the authority for most of the last 50 years, and started the night with 53 out of 70 seats.
There have been some long-standing political casualties – including Colin Davie who lost his Ingoldmells Rural seat to Reform by almost a thousand votes.
In all, decades of council experience will be leaving the chamber.
The newly-elected Reform UK councillors will have to hit the ground running to adjust to the demands of managing an authority with an annual budget of £693m.
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- Published10 April
