Is Grimsby's former Conservative MP, Lia Nici, poised for political comeback - with Reform UK?

                                                         

Lia Nici - change of political allegiance

WORD is that Lia Nici - Great Grimsby's Conservative MP until her defeat at last year's General Election - could be back on the political trail.

Although no personal statement has been forthcoming, it is understood she has defected from the Tories to Reform UK whose policies have always seemed aligned to her beliefs.

Before becoming an MP, Ms Nici was a Conservative councillor on North East Lincolnshire Council, representing the Scartho ward.

It is possible the 56-year-old former Grimsby Institute lecturer could be candidate at next year's NELC elections.

Further into the future, she may also fancy throwing her hat into the ring as a Reform UK parliamentary candidate at the next General Election three year's hence.

However, it is unlikely that she would stand in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituency, currently held by Labour's Melanie Onn.

This is now the stomping ground of Oliver Freeston, another former Conservative, who is currently Reform UK's only NELC member, representing the Croft Baker ward in Cleethorpes.  

A former pupil at Healing School, Ms Nici's Italian father owned a restaurant in Cleethorpes and her mother was a policewoman.

In parliament, she was a staunch ally of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and, between February and July 2022, was one of his parliamentary private secretaries, later, between September and October in the same year,  serving as a levelling-up minister under Liz Truss.

Since leaving parliament, it understood she has been working as a freelance consultant, specialising in video and media.