Doncaster Mayor doubles down on election night claim Keir Starmer must ‘listen to the people’

Mayor Jones narrowly won the mayoralty over Reform UK, before Nigel Farage’s party swept to a council majority the following day.

Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg after winning re-election, an unscripted Jones took aim at the government’s cuts to the winter fuel payment and benefits – making headlines in national newspapers.

“I said they need to listen to the people,” Jones said in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.

“They need to get back to grassroots and realise that some of the decisions they’re making are hurting the people we’re here to represent.”

The council elections saw Labour lose big as Reform UK surged from nothing to 37 councillors, slashing Labour to 12 and the Conservatives to just six.

Mayor Jones told the LDRS: “We lost an awful lot of extremely good ward councillors. For national issues rather than local issues.

“Some of them are very hurt because they’ve worked their socks off in the past. I am sure they need to go away and then come back, hopefully refreshed, and carry on with some of the good work they have done.”

The election campaign through April was said to be “bruising” for Labour members repeatedly bashed for national issues on the doorstep.

It saw Reform UK to a council majority, but – with Ros Jones retaining the powerful mayor position – they will act as the opposition.

“I have offered to look to meet with [Reform UK] on a regular basis,” Jones said, “I hope they take it up. I want them to work for the good of Doncaster.”

It includes an invitation for the Reform UK leader and deputy leader, Councillors Guy Aston and Rachel Reed, to attend an informal “executive group” meeting ahead of cabinet decisions.

Jones said: “We have got a big job in front of us and it’s about getting on with what’s there and delivering for the people and our businesses.

“I will continue to spend where we can with Doncaster companies because it helps with the ‘Donny Pound’.”

There are a number of big projects in the pipeline for Doncaster, including reopening the airport, the waterfront development and big investments in town centres like Mexborough.

“I want to see everything come to fruition,” Jones said, “That will benefit the people.”

Doncaster is said to have benefited from £15million of extra funding in its first settlement with the Labour government, which Mayor Jones has previously described as the “best” she’s had.

It was not an easy road to re-election for the Mayor. The overnight count into May 2, 2025, was filled with tension as the result seemed to hang in the balance until the very end.

Despite having such large majorities in the past, Mayor Jones said she was “not complacent” when campaigning.

She said the result was not a surprise because “other candidates had no idea what being a mayor was”.

Keir Starmer’s government has floated the idea of abolishing directly elected mayors (DEM) in single authorities in favour of the growing number of ‘Metro Mayors’ – like South Yorkshire’s Oliver Coppard.

DEMs are a rare and unique system of local government in the UK. Doncaster’s mayor is one of 13 single authority DEMs across the country and one of the only ones implemented via a public referendum.

Commenting on the speculation, Mayor Jones said to the LDRS: “I will not be the one making that decision, but I think the people of Doncaster voted twice to have an elected mayor. So if the government does or doesn’t make that decision, it will be up to them.”

If the prime minister’s team were to remove DEMs, it would not take effect in Doncaster until the end of Ros Jones’ current term – ending in 2029.