Political predictions for 2026 in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

If recent times are anything to go by then 2026 could shape up to be another eventful year in politics.

Predicting what lies ahead is never an easy task, so we asked some leading political figures from East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to offer their best guesses on what could be making headlines at Westminster and closer to home.

The past 12 months will not be remembered with great fondness by some Labour figures and many will be hoping 2026 will generate positive headlines for the party after a difficult second year in government.

Emma Hardy, the water and flooding minister, suggests the coming months will see some notable improvements for the people she represents in Hull West and Haltemprice.

“We want to prove to people we’ve got a government that cares about Hull,” she says.

“We’ve got that Community Diagnostic Centre open in the city centre, we’re going to get the A63 open, we’re going to see improvements in our hospitals and definitely make it easier to see a GP, so you’re not getting that 8am mad rush to get an appointment”.

Labour will face a tricky set of local elections in May, with Reform UK challenging the party in some of its traditional heartlands.

The Reform leader of Lincolnshire County Council predicts Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves could become high-profile political casualties.

Councillor Sean Matthews says: “I’m fairly certain we’re going to have a new prime minister and a new chancellor.

“I think the May elections will be devastating for the Labour Party and neither of those will survive that.”

Despite losing the Hull and East Yorkshire mayoral election to Reform UK’s Luke Campbell last year, the Liberal Democrat leader of Hull City Council insists he is upbeat about the party’s chances of retaining control of the authority.

Councillor Mike Ross says: “We’ve been getting on with the job we said we’d do. We’ve listed to local residents, we are sorting out the problems left behind for us, be it bridges or road concerns.

“We see in Hull a place that’s in the top 25 places to visit in the world in 2026, these are all good things the local public recognise.”

The Conservatives are still a party battered and bruised by their general election defeat in 2024, but the current longest serving Tory MP sounds a note of optimism.

Sir Edward Leigh, who represents Gainsborough, says: “Our policies are very much in tune with what people want in Lincolnshire on immigration and climate change and everything else, and I suspect we’ll make a slow and gradual recovery.”

The likelihood is that 2026 will see a rerun of many of the political arguments we are familiar with, from “stopping the boats” to improving the NHS and balancing the nation’s books.

There may be new solutions proposed to old problems, but as with any other year, the people we elect will usually agree to disagree.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.