Credentials

BA (Hons) International Relations and Politics, University of Lincoln.¹
Diploma in Economics, The Open University.²

Background

Dame Andrea Jenkyns is the Reform UK mayor for the Greater Lincolnshire, having been elected in a local election on May 1, 2025.³ She was previously the Conservative MP for Leeds South West and Morley from 2015-2024.⁴ She was a Conservative Party whip between September 2021 and July 2022.⁵ She defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK in November 2024.⁶

Since 31 May 2023, she has sat on the board of directors of Net Zero Watch (NZW),⁷ the campaign arm of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), the UK leading climate denial group. NZW has previously urged the government to “recommit to fossil fuels”, including “a new fleet of coal fired power stations”,⁸ and has called for renewable energy from wind and solar power to be “wound down completely”.⁹

Jenkyns has pushed for the UK to scrap its net zero targets, calling them “bureaucratic nonsense!”,¹⁰ expand fossil fuel extraction in the UK including fracking,¹¹ and argued that carbon dioxide “is not pollution” and “only one of many factors” responsible for climate change.¹²

In the run up to the July 2024 general election, during which time Jenkyns was still an MP, Electoral Commission data showed that NZW chair Neil Record gave £5,000 to the Jenkyns’s Conservative branch.¹³

On the day she joined Reform UK, Jenkyns announced she would stand as the party’s candidate in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election in May 2025.¹⁴ At the time, she described the Conservative Party as “beyond salvage”.¹⁵

In an interview on LBC on 29 November, after announcing the defection, she said a Reform UK donor offered her a “bribe” of £80,000 to join the party on the night of the 2024 election. She stated that she had not taken any money to defect.¹⁶

Jenkyn’s mayoral election manifesto includes a pledge to scrap net zero under a section titled “No to net zero madness,” which states that net zero is “crippling Lincolnshire’s economy – driving up energy costs and killing jobs.”¹⁷

In March 2025, Jenkyns organised a rally in central Lincoln to oppose solar farm development in the county, appearing alongside Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, where she said the purpose of the rally was to “stop Ed Miliband desecrating our countryside.”¹⁸

A report from the New European published in February 2025 showed that Jenkyns had deleted old social media posts which voiced support for solar farm developments, including a post celebrating a new solar farm at a Coca-Cola plant which she opened.¹⁹

In her campaign to be re-elected as the MP for Leeds South West and Morley in the July 2024 general election, Jenkyns ran on her own manifesto which promised “No to Net Zero”.²⁰

In June 2024, two weeks before the general election, Jenkyns accepted a £5,000 donation from the media company owned by climate science denier Laurence Fox, which is funded by the investment manager Jeremy Hosking.²¹

In 2023, she hosted the Together Declaration – a protest group that has spread conspiracy theories about Covid vaccines – in Parliament for the launch of a report criticising London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) scheme.²²

She received an OBE after being nominated by the outgoing Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson in 2023.²³

Stance on Climate Change

February 15, 2025

In an interview with GB News, Jenkyns called for the UK government to allow shale gas fracking, saying “we’ve got this [gas] under our feet […] to me it’s a no brainer. I’ve always been pro-fracking. Look what it did to the U.S., the economy there, it’s really helped it.”²⁴

She also labelled the government’s Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, “dangerous” and a “madman” by alleging that efforts to build onshore solar and wind farms, and pylons would harm the country’s food security by lowering the share of land used for agriculture.

February 3, 2025

In a speech held at Reform UK’s County Durham conference, Jenkyns called for net zero to be scrapped, arguing that both the Labour and Conservative parties considered net zero to be a “religion,” adding “I say yes to ditching net zero full stop.”²⁵

January 4, 2025

In a speech Jenkyns gave at Reform’s East Midlands conference in which she pitched herself for the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election in May 2025, she said: “I say no to Ed Miliband bankrupting Britain with his net zero madness,” “I say no to Lincolnshire being a dumping ground for pylons” and that she was proud of Reform UK’s commitment to “scrapping this net zero madness that pushes up our energy bills.”²⁶

December 10, 2024

In an X post, Jenkyns wrote: “the UK needs to pull out of the Paris Agreement too, and stop these ridiculous climate goals and Net Zero madness.”²⁷

She was reposting Wide Awake Media – an account that has pushed various conspiracy theories, in particular in relation to Covid vaccines and the ‘Great Reset’.

September 20, 2023

Jenkyns wrote an article for GB News titled “Climate targets are bureaucratic nonsense!” in which welcomed then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to relax carbon dioxide reduction targets, saying:²⁸

“Carbon dioxide is not pollution; it is a naturally occurring trace gas essential to life on Earth. It is only one of many factors that might have an impact on the climate. Many leading scientists, including Nobel Laureate Dr John Clauser, have cast informed doubt on the concept of a ‘climate crisis’. The legacy media such as the BBC cannot continue to pretend that this debate does not exist.”

Key Actions

February 4, 2025

Jenkyns is reported to have deleted posts on social media that evidence her previous support for net zero, including evidence of her having officially opened a solar farm outside Leeds in 2017.²⁹

March 15, 2025

Jenkyns organised a rally in central Lincoln to oppose construction of solar farms in Lincolnshire, writing in an X post promoting the rally: “we say no to Miliband desecrating our farmland with thousands of acres of solar farms.”³⁰

January 31, 2025

On X, Jenkyns promoted a petition that she started calling for an “immediate halt to large-scale solar developments on Lincolnshire’s agricultural land”, arguing in the post caption that “this net zero madness will jeopardise food security and decimate our countryside.”³¹

November 28, 2024

Jenkyns defected to Reform UK from the Conservative Party,³² after failing to win re-election as the Conservative Party candidate in her former seat of Leeds South West and Morley.³³ She used the opportunity to announce that she would be standing as a Reform UK candidate in the May 2025 Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election.

November 21, 2023

Jenkyns hosted a parliamentary event on behalf of the Together Declaration for the launch of an anti-climate report titled “‘Clean’ Air, Dirty Money, Filthy Politics,”³⁴ written by Ben Pile, which argued that there was no scientific or democratic basis for clean air policies in the UK – contrary to existing evidence.³⁵

In an X post promoting the event, Jenkyns wrote that she was “pleased to host an event to launch an important report on behalf of Together,” continuing:

“We need to challenge the #netzero narrative, call for a cost benefit analysis, and for transparency into who is funding this. The British public should not have net zero enforced on them.”

June 28, 2023

Jenkyns signed an open letter from the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG) published in The Telegraph which called for a softening of the UK’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which is designed to reduce the country’s carbon emissions, in the name of “British energy security,” and to ensure that “ETS does not put British industry out of business”.³⁶

The letter, which was co-ordinated by then-chair of the NZSG, Craig Mackinlay, was signed by 29 Conservative MPs and peers, including former Business and Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lord Frost, Iain Duncan Smith, Jonathan Gullis, and Miriam Cates.

May 31, 2023

Jenkyns joined Net Zero Watch as a board member. In the NZW press release announcing her appointment she is quoted as saying that:³⁷

“Westminster has been gripped by groupthink on climate and energy policy for far too long […] I’m looking forward to spreading the word that there are more rational approaches to these issues”.

September 23, 2017

As the then-Conservative MP for South West Leeds and Morley, Jenkyns officially opened an eight-hectare new solar farm in Leeds to help power a nearby Coca-Cola plant.³⁸

She said:

“It has never been more important for businesses to operate responsibly and think about the role they play both within the communities they operate and also the wider society. I commend Coca-Cola European Partners on taking a strong leadership position and embracing sustainable energy in this way, working with local groups and businesses to achieve this.”

Key Quotes

December 4, 2024

In a post on X, Jenkyns claimed that net zero is simply “a way to tax and control people,” adding that she was “pro-fracking, which will lower energy costs for the British people.”³⁹

May 14, 2024

Jenkyns posted a clip from a parliamentary debate on X, in which she spoke out against the “true costs of net zero”, calling it a “globalist catchphrase” in the caption.⁴⁰

April 16, 2024

In a parliamentary debate about net zero, Jenkyns asked the question:⁴¹

“Does the Minister agree that it is economic madness to pursue our current ruthless net zero agenda, outsourcing carbon production to the likes of China and forcing us to pay more to heat our homes and power our economy? We must put the British taxpayer first.”

March 12, 2024

Jenkyns wrote in the Daily Express that Labour’s discarded plans for £28 billion of climate spending constituted a “green religion”, and warned that a Labour government would “push on with our establishment’s obsession with net zero”.⁴²

July 1, 2023

In response to an X post by the then-Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, in which he laid out his tabled amendments for an Energy Bill that was progressing through Parliament, Jenkyns replied with a post saying she would propose:⁴³

“Continue with gas boilers

No ban on oil & gas licences

Explore Fracking

Stop raising taxes to supplement green energies. This hits the poorest

Yes to energy independence & security.”

March 28, 2023

In May 2023, Jenkyns told a meeting in the House of Commons: “It’s time we said no to net zero and put our priority into energy independence”.

Affiliations

Publications

X – @andreajenkyns
Linkedin – Dame Andrea Jenkyns
Instagram – @andreajenkynsmp

Other resources

“Andrea Jenkyns,” Wikipedia entry.

Image credit: screengrab.

Resources

1
“Dame Andrea Jenkyns,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
2
“Dame Andrea Jenkyns,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
3
Tim Iredale and Emma Petrie. “Jenkyns: fracking would save money for taxpayers,” BBC News, May 4, 2025. Archived May 6, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/HG9ip
4
“Leeds South West and Morley,” UK Parliament. Archived March 20, 2025. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
5
“Dame Andrea Jenkyns,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
6
Ben Quinn. “Andrea Jenkyns has joined Reform UK, says Nigel Farage,” The Guardian, November 28, 2024. Archived March 8, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/7YMMG
7
“Andrea Jenkyns MP joins Net Zero Watch board,” Net Zero Watch, May 31, 2024. Archived March 18, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/S5fMB
8
“In a bad situation there are no good moves: What the UK should (but will not) do to address the energy crisis,” Net Zero Watch, October 4, 2022. Archived on June 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/VfHVN
9
Adam Barnett. “ Anti-Net Zero MP Backs ‘Laughable’ Report Urging Renewables be ‘Wound Down’,” DeSmog, March 30, 2022.
10
Andrea Jenkyns. “Climate targets are bureaucratic nonsense! Finally we’re starting to listen to the British people, says Dame Andrea Jenkyns,” GB News, September 20, 2023. Archived April 3, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/NVw8Y
11
“Ben Leo Tonight,” broadcast from channel GB News, February 15, 2025 21:39 GMT. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
12
Andrea Jenkyns. “Climate targets are bureaucratic nonsense! Finally we’re starting to listen to the British people, says Dame Andrea Jenkyns,” GB News, September 20, 2023. Archived April 3, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/NVw8Y
13
“Donation summary,” Electoral Commission, September 10, 2024. Archived September 13, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
14
Ben Quinn. “Andrea Jenkyns has joined Reform UK, says Nigel Farage,” The Guardian, November 28, 2024. Archived March 8, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/7YMMG
15
Kate Whannel. “Former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns joins Reform UK,” BBC, November 28, 2024. Archived on January 17, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/NwbeI
16
Aggie Chambre and Bethan Davies. “Reform recruit Andrea Jenkyns accused party donors of offering her £80k ‘bribe’ to ditch Tories earlier in the year,” LBC, November 20, 2024. Archived March 18, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/4UD0i
17
“My Plan: No to net zero madness,” www.Andrea4mayor.co.uk. Archived April 2, 2025. Archived URL: https://archive.is/D1GeT
18
“Lincolnshire Farmers and Residents Rally Against Large-Scale Solar Farms on Farmland,” www.Andrea4mayor.co.uk, March 17, 2025. Archived April 2, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/vsFp4
19
“Andrea Jenkyns and the mysteriously deleted posts,” The New European, February 4, 2025. Archived April 2, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/YLMnS
20
Andrea Jenkyns. “Labour’s flip-flopping leaves Britain vulnerable! Empty pledges, open borders, rising crime – and they call that leadership? @Keir_Starmer, take a look at my pledges: Tough on crime, secure borders, and saying NO to net zero madness! It’s time for common sense! 🇬🇧,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, May 16, 2024. Archived 4 April, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
21
Sam Bright. “Conservatives Accepted £5,000 From Laurence Fox’s Media Company,” DeSmog, September 12, 2024.
22
Andrea Jenkyns. “Pleased to host an event to launch an important report on behalf of @alanvibe @Togetherdec. We need to challenge the #netzero narrative, call for a cost benefit analysis, and for transparency into who is funding this. The British public should not have net zero enforced on them.,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, November 21, 2023. Archived 3 April, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
23
Joey Grostern and Adam Barnett. “Boris Johnson’s Honours List Includes Climate Science Deniers and Fossil Fuel Lobbyists,” DeSmog, June 16, 2023.
24
“Ben Leo Tonight,” broadcast from channel GB News, February 15, 2025 21:39 GMT. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
25
Reform UK. “Andrea Jenkyn Full Speech | Reform UK 2025 County Durham Conference,” YouTube video uploaded by @ReformUKOfficial, February 3, 2025. Archived mp4 on file at DeSmog.
26
Reform UK. “Andrea Jenkyns Speech at Reform UK East Midlands Conference,” YouTube video uploaded by user @ReformUKOfficial, January 4, 2025. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
27
Andrea Jenkyns. “The UK needs to pull out of the Paris Agreement too, and stop these ridiculous climate goals and Net Zero madness,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, December 10, 2025. Archived April 3, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
28
Andrea Jenkyns. “Climate targets are bureaucratic nonsense! Finally we’re starting to listen to the British people, says Dame Andrea Jenkyns,” GB News, September 20, 2023. Archived April 3, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/NVw8Y
29
“Andrea Jenkyns and the mysteriously deleted posts,” The New European, February 4, 2025. Archived April 2, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/YLMnS
30
Andrea Jenkyns. “Join our rally 11am today in Lincoln. We say no to Milliband desecrating our farmland with thousands of acres of solar farms.,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, March 15, 2025. Archived April 3, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
31
Andrea Jenkyns. “A tenth of farmland to be axed for solar farms […] STOP Solar been built on our farmland,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, January 31, 2025. Archived 3 April, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
32
Ben Quinn. “Andrea Jenkyns has joined Reform UK, says Nigel Farage,” The Guardian, November 28, 2024. Archived March 8, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/7YMMG
33
“Leeds South West and Morley,” UK Parliament. Archived March 20, 2025. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
34
Andrea Jenkyns. “Pleased to host an event to launch an important report on behalf of @alanvibe @Togetherdec. We need to challenge the #netzero narrative, call for a cost benefit analysis, and for transparency into who is funding this. The British public should not have net zero enforced on them.,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, November 21, 2023. Archived 3 April, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
35
Ben Pile. “‘Clean’ Air, Dirty Money, Filthy Politics,” November 2023. Archived February 7, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
36
“Letters: Let the public decide whether they want to pay for BBC programmes,” The Telegraph, June 28, 2023. Archived June 28, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/N5L4D
37
“Andrea Jenkyns MP joins Net Zero Watch board,” Net Zero Watch, May 31, 2024. Archived March 18, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/S5fMB
38
“Local MP visits solar farm powering Europe’s largest soft drinks factory,” PoliticsHome, September 23, 2017. Archived April 3, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/RhdPx
39
Andrea Jenkyns. “All the main parties have an homogenised view on net zero […],” X post by user @andreajenkyns, December 4, 2024. Archived April 3, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
40
Andrea Jenkyns. “Net Zero became a globalist catchphrase to pontificate to the world how progressive we are without any real thought on the true cost to the consumer. Today, I applied for a parliamentary debate to unpack its true cost. Brits should not be footing the bill for this woke ideology!,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, May 14, 2024. Archived April 3, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
41
“Net Zero Targets: Business and Investors. Volume 748: debated on Tuesday 16 April 2024,” Hansard.parliament.uk, April 16, 2024. Archived April 3, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/dBEAc
42
Andrea Jenkyns. “The Conservative Party has allowed Reform to fill a political void, warns Andrea Jenkyns,” The Daily Express, March 12, 2024. Archive March 12, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/xvusQ
43
Andrea Jenkyns. “I disagree with your amendments Chris Continue with gas boilers No ban on oil & gas licences Explore Fracking Stop raising taxes to supplement green energies. This hits the poorest Yes to energy independence & security. I’m pretty happy with my diesel car too.,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, July 1, 2023. Archived .png on file at DeSmog. Archive URL: https://archive.is/ap7Pg
44
“Andrea Jenkyns MP joins Net Zero Watch board,” Net Zero Watch, May 31, 2024. Archived March 18, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/S5fMB
45
Andrea Jenkyns. “Pleased to host an event to launch an important report on behalf of @alanvibe @Togetherdec. We need to challenge the #netzero narrative, call for a cost benefit analysis, and for transparency into who is funding this. The British public should not have net zero enforced on them.,” X post by user @andreajenkyns, November 21, 2023. Archived 3 April, 2025. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
46
Ben Quinn. “Andrea Jenkyns has joined Reform UK, says Nigel Farage,” The Guardian, November 28, 2024. Archived March 8, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/7YMMG
47
“Letters: Let the public decide whether they want to pay for BBC programmes,” The Telegraph, June 28, 2023. Archived on June 24, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/N5L4D
48
Adam Barnett and Sam Bright. “High-Profile Allies of Anti-Net Zero Parliamentary Group Revealed in Telegraph Letter,” DeSmog, June 28, 2023.
49
Andrea Jenkyns. “The Conservative Party has allowed Reform to fill a political void, warns Andrea Jenkyns,” The Daily Express, March 12, 2024. Archive March 12, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/xvusQ
50
Andrea Jenkyns. “Climate targets are bureaucratic nonsense! Finally we’re starting to listen to the British people, says Dame Andrea Jenkyns,” GB News, September 20, 2023. Archived April 3, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/NVw8Y

DeSmog

DeSmog

Andrea Jenkyns

Credentials

Background

Stance on Climate Change

Key Actions

Key Quotes

Affiliations

Publications

Other resources

Resources

Related Profiles

Andrea Leadsom

Net Zero Watch

Reform UK

Net Zero Scrutiny Group

DeSmog

DeSmog

Andrea Jenkyns

Credentials

Background

Stance on Climate Change

Key Actions

Key Quotes

Affiliations

Publications

Social Media

Other resources

Resources

Related Profiles

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter