Andrea Jenkyns at odds with Nigel Farage on special needs

Reform UK’s candidate to be the first mayor of Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, has appeared to contradict her party’s leader Nigel Farage over their outlook on children with special educational needs, or SEND.

Dame Andrea, a former Conservative minister, has spoken publicly about both her and her young son having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

In a news conference last week, Nigel Farage said that he thought there were too many diagnoses of special educational needs in children.

Farage said that “so many of these diagnoses, for SEND before 18, for disability register after 18 – so many of these have been conducted on Zoom, with the family GP.

“And I think we are massively – I’m not being heartless, I’m being frank – I think we are massively over diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities.”

Dame Andrea told the BBC that she and Mr Farage “are not always going to agree on everything” when asked to respond to his remarks.

“In no party do you ever agree with everything. I didn’t with the Conservatives did I – I was the worst critic,” she added.

“All I can go on is my personal experience as a parent, as somebody who’s neurodiverse myself, and as a former MP who saw some of the very sad stories of children, how they’ve been left behind really.”

Dame Andrea said she had seen people waiting three or four years to receive a diagnosis for a child, “by which time they’re going into secondary education and they’re way behind.”

“I pulled my child out of mainstream into private school because he was two years behind, and as a parent you do the best for your child. I know his daily struggles and to me it’s about ensuring everybody gets that best start in life, no matter what your background is.”

A source close to Nigel Farage said he was seeking to argue that mental health issues were being over diagnosed in children.