Reform mayor says she wants cut at least one council’s workforce by up to 10%
Reform’s newly elected Greater Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns has said she would like to cut at least one county council’s workforce in her area by up to 10%, PA reports.
The former Tory MP was asked how a “Lincolnshire Doge” – an equivalent to the department of government efficiency unit which is slashing US government spending under billionaire Elon Musk – would work.
Asked how much money she would want to save, she said: “So this is hard to answer this at this stage but I think, personally, ought to look at maybe cutting the workforce by up to 10%. We’ve got to have a lean, mean local government,” she told LBC.
“That’s what I personally like to see, but again there’s variables there, because we haven’t elected a Reform county council leader yet, so there’s got to be discussions.”
Jenkyns also said she is “up for a fight” with the unions after the head of Unison urged council workers to sign up after Reform won control in several local authorities in Thursday’s local elections.
Key events
Reform’s Andrea Jenkyns was challenged on LBC about her earlier comments that it should be “tents not rent” for asylum seekers in the UK.
LBC’s Lewis Goodall asked if the newly elected Lincolnshire mayor would be happy seeing streets of tents in her constituency. She replied: “It’s got to be a confined area.”
“We’ve got to stop the pull to Britain with this,” she continued. “Why are we paying these millions and millions of pounds to France when people come from a safe country such as France to come here.”
She did not directly answer a question about whether she would be happy to see children sleeping in tents.
Speaking to LBC, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said he thought Labour were making a mistake by trying to sound like Reform.
“I think the mistake the Conservatives are making is like trying to become like Reform themselves,” Davey said. “And I think Labour when it tries to sound more like Reform, is making a mistake. I think you’ve got to call them out.”
Davey also said he felt Labour had been “too weak in standing up to Donald Trump”.
You can read more on Wes Streeting earlier saying that Reform may become Labour’s main rivals at the link below.
The health secretary compared the fight between the Tories and Reform to a battle between two Hollywood monsters: “I don’t know whether it will be Reform or the Conservatives that emerge as the main threat. I don’t have a horse in that race, but like Alien v Predator, you don’t really want either one to win but one of them will emerge as the main challenger to Labour at the next general election.”
Reform’s Greater Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns told LBC it should be “tents not rent” for asylum seekers who come to the UK, PA reports.
She was asked about her previous comments that asylum seekers should not be put up in hotels and that tents are “good enough for France”.
Put to her that the French public dislike seeing people living in tents, Jenkyns told LBC: “My whole point of making this statement is that we are soft-touch Britain and, you know, we’re acting like bees to honey by putting people in hotels.”
She added: “This is taxpayers’ money and it should actually be tents, not rent.”
Her comments echoed a line Reform’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, said in an appearance on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg earlier today: “People risk their lives to cross the English channel because we’re a soft touch.”
Reform mayor says she wants cut at least one council’s workforce by up to 10%
Reform’s newly elected Greater Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns has said she would like to cut at least one county council’s workforce in her area by up to 10%, PA reports.
The former Tory MP was asked how a “Lincolnshire Doge” – an equivalent to the department of government efficiency unit which is slashing US government spending under billionaire Elon Musk – would work.
Asked how much money she would want to save, she said: “So this is hard to answer this at this stage but I think, personally, ought to look at maybe cutting the workforce by up to 10%. We’ve got to have a lean, mean local government,” she told LBC.
“That’s what I personally like to see, but again there’s variables there, because we haven’t elected a Reform county council leader yet, so there’s got to be discussions.”
Jenkyns also said she is “up for a fight” with the unions after the head of Unison urged council workers to sign up after Reform won control in several local authorities in Thursday’s local elections.
The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said he does not understand the appeal of Nigel Farage, PA reports.
Russell Findlay said it was “absolutely questionable” whether Reform UK was “even a party of the Union”.
Findlay ruled out any deals with the right-wing party as he accused Farage of helping to keep the SNP in power.
Asked on BBC Scotland’s the Sunday Show if he understood the appeal of Farage, Findlay said: “Do I understand the appeal? No, I don’t.
“What I understand is why people, voters in Scotland and across the United Kingdom, feel disillusioned, they feel disconnected and left behind with politics.
“I’m not a career politician – I’m new at this. I’ve been doing this job for seven months.
“I completely understand why people feel that way, but Reform are not the answer in Scotland.”
Writing in the Mirror, prime minister Keir Starmer said he wants to see the whole of Britain come together to honour heroes of the Second World War as four days of VE Day commemorations begin tomorrow to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the conflict in Europe.
“This week, in communities across Britain, we will all show how proud and grateful we are for that dedication.
I will be celebrating by welcoming the brave service men and women who wear our colours at home and abroad. Of course, as our special guests, we will host some of the heroes of 1945,” Starmer wrote.
The Greens’ co-leader Adrian Ramsay also spoke on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
He said Reform’s success in the local elections “is not built on strong foundations.”
“Many of their people have been elected without having strong roots in their local communities. It remains to be seen whether they’ll be willing to put in the hard yards.
“Green councillors have strong a track record in our communities. People know what we stand for: fighting to protect local services, defend our environment, get more affordable housing.”
“Whereas I’m now deeply worried where we’re left with Reform arguing for cuts to local councils that are already severely overstretched.”
The Greens gained 44 councillors across the 23 councils involved in this election.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he has “sympathy” for NHS workers seeking higher pay as the government faces the potential headache of public sector strikes, PA reports.
“What I’d say to resident doctors who are currently balloting is they’ll see and receive in the coming weeks the recommendation of the pay review body,” Streeting said during his appearance on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this morning.
“So I’d urge them to kind of wait and see the figure that’s recommended and how Government takes that forward, same as the rest of the NHS workforce.
“I do understand, we’ve got a lot of sympathy with the arguments that are being made, particularly by the lower-paid members of the NHS workforce.”
Streeting said he wants to make sure people are paid fairly and asked them to “judge us on our record”.
Resident doctors in England – the new term for junior doctors – will be balloted on strike action over pay later this month, the British Medical Association announced last week.
Kemi Badenoch also said the Conservatives are going to “come out fighting” to try to regain public support
She told Laura Kuenssberg that protest voting has been a factor in recent results, adding: “I do think it is protest but that doesn’t mean we sit back. We are going to come out fighting.
“We are going to come out with the policies that people want to see, but what we are not going to do is rush out and tell the public things that are not true just so we can win votes.
“This is not about winning elections; this is about fixing our country. Yes, of course, you need to win elections to do that, but you also need a credible plan.”
Farage ‘does not have the solutions to the country’s problems,’ says Badenoch
Here’s some more from Kemi Badenoch’s appearance on Laura Kuenssberg earlier this morning.
Asked whether Nigel Farage could be the next prime minister, the Conversative leader said anything is feasible, but “my job is to make sure he does not become prime minister, because he does not have the answers to the problems the country is facing.”
Badenoch continued:
How do we increase productivity? What is the plan to improve our environment while dealing with climate change? How do we make sure we can deal with an ageing society? People not having enough children.
“Immigration – a big issue. His answer is to have another minister. We have two ministers who are dealing with that. Those are not serious solutions.”
Asked whether she thinks people should be having more children, Badenoch replied: “I do, but that’s a personal choice. We have to look at the demographics of our country. We cannot solve it with immigration. It is making things worse.”
Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/Reuters
Reform leader Nigel Farage is “trying to be all things to all men”, Conservative co-chairman Nigel Huddleston said.
Questioned on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme about Reform’s success in the local elections, Huddleston suggested the party may not be able to deliver on their promises long-term.
He said: “The one thing about Nigel Farage is, and we’re seeing this again and again and again, he is a populist – he is increasingly saying everything that anybody wants to hear.
“Nigel Farage is saying everything to anybody in order to get their votes at the moment, and it’s an incredibly effective political strategy in the short term but you cannot be a party of going around the world trying to get right-wing votes, promising low tax, and then to other people saying you want nationalisations and high spending, that’s not correct long-term.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has successfully tapped into the frustration of voters, Kemi Badenoch said, PA reports.
The Tory leader told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “He is expressing the feeling of frustration that a lot of people around the country are feeling, but he also doesn’t have a record in government like the two main parties do.
“Now he is going to be running some councils – we’ll see how that goes – but he is expressing a feeling of frustration (and) that is not my job.
Badenoch said her role is to come up with answers and solutions, adding of the voting public: “We understand why they were angry with us. We understand why they removed us from office. They’re not going to come rushing back just because Labour was bad.
“They are looking at the two parties as parties that haven’t delivered
“I need to come up with a plan that will deliver. Easy announcements and easy slogans are not a plan.”
Lib Dems on track to overtake Tories at next election – Ed Davey
Ed Davey has claimed the Liberal Democrats are “on track” to overtake the Conservatives at the next general election, saying they were the only party that “stood up” to Reform UK, PA reports.
On Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme, the Lib Dem leader said: “I think Labour and the Conservatives made a mistake with Reform. The Conservatives have been copying Reform policies, Labour is sounding more and more like Reform.
“I think the way you defeat Nigel Farage is by calling him out.
“Look what happened in Canada with Mark Carney, who was faced with another hard-right opponent, or Anthony Albanese just now in Australia, faced with a hard-right candidate – both of whom were supporting (Donald) Trump, just like Nigel Farage does.
“I think we need to call Nigel Farage out for that. The Liberal Democrats have been the only party doing that.
“I think the British people don’t want Trump policies here. They don’t want hard-right Farage policies here.”
