Former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns has joined Reform UK, Nigel Farage has announced.
Ms Jenkyns, who served under the administration of Liz Truss, has been selected to stand as the party’s candidate for the newly created post of Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.
The announcement was made during a Reform press conference in which Mr Farage revealed that the party’s membership had increased to 100,000 people.
Dame Andrea told the audience she was “joining the party of the brave”, adding that “our once great country is at a crisis point”.
She cited Labour’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, the changes to inheritance tax for farmers and the cut to the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners.
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She went on to say that while leaving the Conservative Party was “not an easy decision”, she believed the “ship is sinking, and perhaps sadly, beyond salvage”.
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The announcement came on the same day that official figures revealed that net migration to the UK had fallen by 20% from a record 906,000 the year before.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the latest net migration figures – the difference between people coming to live in and leaving the UK – stood at an estimated 728,000 in the year to June 2024.
However, the total for the previous year, to June 2023, has been revised upwards by 166,000 to 906,000, making it the new highest year instead of 2022.
The Reform leader branded the figures “horrendous” and said he did not believe the Tories would be “forgiven” for them in the near future.
Mr Farage also took aim at Labour over the fact the cost of the asylum system has risen to £5.38bn – an increase of 36% which does not include the measures in the English Channel to stop small boat crossings.
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Asked by Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby whether she wanted to “kill off your former colleagues” in the Conservative Party, Dame Andrea said her move to Reform was about “doing what’s right”.
“To me, it’s about doing what’s right,” she said. “And the true friends will stay loyal as friends forever.”
She added: “All the decent, true, Thatcherite Conservatives lost their seats.”
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Dame Andrea was elected to parliament in 2015, famously defeating the sitting shadow chancellor Ed Balls to take his seat of Morley and Outwood.
She served as an education minister in the period after Boris Johnson resigned as the leadership contest was under way, and left government after the demise of the Truss government.
She lost her seat at the general election in July – despite having a photo of her with Mr Farage on her election leaflets.
