Andrea Jenkyns: Who is Lincolnshire’s Mayor?
On the back of a very convincing recent victory in the mayoral elections for the new Greater Lincolnshire’s Combined County Authority, we find out what challenges will define Andrea Jenkyns’ new role
The people have spoken, and it wasn’t sotto voce, but fortissimo; loud enough to leave nobody in any doubt. ‘We choose Andrea,’ they said, in Lincolnshire’s mayoral elections.
Among the more interesting – if slightly less pertinent – facts about Lincolnshire’s new Combined County Authority Mayor, Andrea Jenkyns is a former soprano singer who released her own classical-crossover album, ILYIS (an acronym of I Love You In Secret) in 2006. Andrea was also a finalist in the 1992 Miss United Kingdom competition.
She has three dogs, she was made a Dame in 2023 and finally, there was a personal reason behind her appearance in a sparkly dress, rather than the more understated (and on-brand) turquoise blue one, on the morning of Friday 2nd May 2025.
“It was a horrible, bruising campaign. It was emotionally draining, and if I’m honest, it nearly broke me,” she says. “It didn’t need to get this vicious. It didn’t need to get this personal.”
“There was hatchet job after hatchet job, and I’m a strong person, but I’m also a human being. It got very personal with some of the candidates. Something in me said ‘I’m not going to let you get away with it.’”
The it in question is the fact that during the campaign, it was suggested Andrea was ineligible to stand because she wasn’t a resident of Lincolnshire.
“I was looking at two outfits in my wardrobe – two pale blue outfits – and then I saw the sparkly dress I wore for Nigel [Farage’s]’s 60th. There’s a little rebel in me and I thought ‘I’m going to get on that stage. I’m going to own it. I don’t care if it’s sparkling and glittery.’”
“If you’ve got a good campaign team, you can read the room. And every political party has watchers everywhere there’s a count.”
“In 2015 when I stood against Ed Balls in the General Election for the constituency of Morley & Outwood, you couldn’t tell because it was such a marginal result, but there was a recount and 422 votes put me ahead.”
“This time though, we clearly knew from seeing the votes coming in. It was how they were piling up and up on the table. You could see the stacks of papers building up.”
“It got very personal with some of the candidates. I am outspoken and after the count there was a speech that didn’t pull any punches, but it’s representative of what’s to come as we fight to make a stronger Lincolnshire. And it’s reflective of the ethos of Reform too, to not be afraid to speak out.”
“I’ve always been outspoken as an MP and never afraid to do what’s right. People either like that or they don’t but I’ve got to be honest and true to myself. If any further evidence of that commitment is needed, it’s well-known that I’ve spoken out against my previous party and doing so has become necessary because the landscape of two-party politics in Britain is changing and it needs to change.”
Prior to her political career Andrea worked in retail, in senior management and in a directorship at the University of Bolton where she ran a think tank advising on educational policy. She has also worked in performing arts groups with children at Blackfriars in Boston and Polka Dot in Spalding. As well as living in the Fens she has also lived at Healing near Grimsby and in Mablethorpe.
Andrea’s interest in politics, though, began in 2011 when her father died after catching MRSA and discovering the mistakes in the NHS that she says were preventable.
“National health policies, and ensuring that compassion is at the heart of every interaction in the NHS was my motivation. I joined the Patient Safety APPG as soon as I got elected. I worked closely with Jeremy Hunt, because patient safety is a big thing for him too. In the NHS nationally, 650 people a month die through preventable mistakes and that’s a massive figure, a shocking one.”
“I’d always been a Conservative, as were my parents. My sister and I were both in the Young Conservatives, but for me things were starting to turn sour in the party. I saw that Theresa May was Brexit in name only and Remainers were trying to stop Brexit. As a democrat, I believe that whatever the vote – the mandate – you have to respect it.”
“Boris Johnson had a massive mandate and was trying to deal with Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine War, but I saw first-hand what they did to him as I was in the whips’ office. Key people in the party were trying to bring him down. The eventual vote to boot Boris out was, I thought, quite shameful.”
“After Boris the party never had the leader they needed. Rishi was promoted too quickly and I always said publicly that if they chose Kemi as leader I’d leave the party because I saw how she worked as a minister. She was good on the culture stuff but quite lazy. I didn’t feel she was a conviction politician.”
“Initially I met with Rishi and with Reform to see if we could have joint candidates, uniting to stop a Labour supermajority.”
“But the Conservative party had already moved too much to the centre, in the same way that Blair moved too much to the centre.”
“Reform meanwhile has demonstrated an ability to pull from both the left and right, unifying people just as Thatcher did in 1979. The politics of the party were getting more attention than the national politics that we should have been more concerned with.”
“The day after the 2024 General Election and having already worked with Nigel and Richard on the Brexit campaign – they’ve been friends for over eight years – I was approached by Reform.”
“Initially I told both of them that I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in politics any longer. The period I spent as an MP was quite a bruising time. That’s compounded when the country is a laughing stock, unable to get a Brexit deal. It’s compounded in times of national crisis, like Covid, too.”
“During the election campaign the Conservatives insinuated that I’ve slept around to advance my career. Friends have phoned me up before and said ‘did you realise you’re sleeping with so-and-so,’ and I’m tough enough to ignore a lot of that but it’s something with which a male politician would never have to contend.”
“I’m in politics, but I’m also a human being and a single parent to my eight-year old son Clifford, who is neuro-diverse. He’s going to grow up seeing anything unpleasant that has been written about me in print or online, and that shouldn’t be acceptable.”
“I no longer have parents alive to support me. But my sister Debbie and I are really close too. She has MS and as a family we all work together to ensure we stay physically and mentally well, so that I can juggle a career and family life, and make a difference either in national politics or to Lincolnshire in my new role.”
“Nigel and Richard are amazing in offering their support too, but there are times that you really do have to muster more strength than usual, and a cruel or alarming message on social media is awful.”
“But what do you work hard for, if not family? My son messaged me at one o’clock in the morning and then again at three o’clock. He was so excited, ‘mummy, have you won?’”
The result was announced just before seven in the morning with Andrea securing 42% of the votes, 104,133 against the 64,585 votes of the next-closest candidate. After an irascible interview with Sky News, it was a Friday and Saturday full of media (and fresh coffee), culminating in a Sunday appearance on the BBC’s Politics North followed by a quiet Sunday afternoon and Bank Holiday Monday.
At the vote the team who were in place to support the new Combined County Authority (CCA) mayor had already introduced themselves to the candidates.
On Tuesday 6th May, Andrea was sworn in during a ceremony in Lincoln Cathedral officially becoming Lincolnshire’s first ever county-wide mayor, heading up a combined authority which will sit above county, district, borough and town councils, serving as a direct point of liaison with Westminster.
In principle the role means being able to command attention and secure funding from central government, ensuring the relevance of policy as somebody with a strong understanding of Lincolnshire’s needs.
Andrea will chair a CCA board comprising six voting members from the three constituent councils (Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire) and other non-constituent members who will vote on some matters. The new authority will have wider membership from other district or borough councils, from the business community and the police and crime commissioners for the area.
“For now we’re based in the buildings from which Lincolnshire County Council operates, with a team of 16, comprising of researchers, legal experts, and people with an economic or business background.”
“Literally on day one they said that they’ve seen the manifesto, and so we all set about developing policy.”
“It was just a case of throwing myself in to that and getting on with it, but I work in a really good team and there’s much to do in order to prove that the role, and the incumbent will benefit the county greatly.”
“Among our other priorities though, we need to restore interest and faith in politics. Apathy is at an all-time high, as is frustration with politicians. I want to provide complete transparency. All my combined authority meetings will broadcast and how people vote will be publicly recorded.”
There are a number of pots of money that Andrea can utilise in her role including a new budget of £24m/annually for 30 years to invest in key priority areas of infrastructure and skills development.
“That’s in addition to a one off £28.4m capital investment fund for Greater Lincolnshire’s priorities – which is already being invested in new roads, infrastructure and housing sites.”
“But on top of those the CCA can bid for further money to improve the county’s provision of services and strengthen its economic potential.
“Though it’s an ostensibly local role, we can also liaise with national and international partners to generate inward investment.”
“I’m also keen to hold an annual Great Exhibition highlighting what a contribution Lincolnshire can make to the country.
It’s about shifting the dial, and that feeds into an ability to encourage a groundswell of political pressure which can encourage changes at a national level too.”
“We can improve transport for Greater Lincolnshire, fix transport issues, and reform the way we run the country, not just the county, setting an example by consolidating and streamlining authorities to save the taxpayer money in conjunction with a county-wide restructure of local authorities mandated by central government that’s still at consultation stage until November.”
“You don’t need different authorities all with HR departments and payroll departments, legal departments… ultimately, we can offer taxpayers better value for money which is a good thing. I’ve grown up in Lincolnshire. I know the challenges that a rural county faces from infrastructure to transport to skills gaps.”
“I also know of the need to support businesses and farmers in a county that should value the important contribution that agriculture makes both to the county and nationally.”
“I know I can get my teeth into this role and I know I can do a good job with the same commitment to the values I share with Nigel and Richard and with Sean as leader of the County Council.”
“It’s about family, community and country. It’s about making the public voice heard, and it’s about delivering for them.”
Dame Andrea Jenkyns DBE was named the first mayor of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (CCA) on Friday 2nd May. To find out more about the role, see www.greaterlincolnshire-cca.gov.uk
Read our full feature in the July edition of Lincolnshire Pride at https://issuu.com/pridemagazines/docs/lincolnshire_pride_july_2025