"I'll not be shutting up," says beaten Tory mayoral candidate "fearful" for city's future

The former Don Valley MP trailed in a distant third in last Thursday’s mayoral contest, Labour’s Ros Jones securing a historic fourth team, albeit with a slender majority ahead of Reform UK’s Alexander Jones who polled second with just under 700 less votes.

A despondent Mr Fletcher took to Facebook to pass on his thanks to supporters – and has said that he doesn’t yet know what the future holds.

In a live video message, he said: “A huge thank you to everybody who’s helped over the last few months with my campaign.

"It’s disappointing obviously that I lost – there will be lots of people with lots of reasons why, but that’s now what today’s about."

Instead, he used the message to pay tribute to his wife Gail, his family, Conservative councillors Steve and Jane Cox who helped mastermind his campaign, Doncaster divorce laywer Andrew Isaacs who ran his social media campaign and members of the Christian Conservative Fellowship who helped deliver thousands of leaflets.

He added: “People have put their head above the parapet on social media to continuously champion me, which is just great.

"We need more people like that, good people prepared to speak up sensibly and respectfully. There’s too many keyboard warriors out there.

"The amount of abuse you take in this job, it can be quite harsh. Anyone who types bad language – I can’t believe it. It’s disgraceful, stop doing it.”

He added: “I believed I could change Doncaster for the better – the most disappointing thing about losing is that I genuinely believed I could turn it around. I’m fearful for the future now.”

Paying tribute to the city’s market traders, he added: “I am deeply sorry for them. I hope our market can be saved.”

He then turned his attentions to the immigration debate, which he believed was a key factor in his defeat, saying: “We lost the vote on immigration.

"The Conservative Party let the people down, let the country down and the Labour Government has been asbolutely abysmal.

"We are losing our culture. The only way we can keep our culture is to protect it.

"Our culture is built on Christian beliefs of decency, tolerance and kindness. We need to support it.

"Go to church, go to your local pub, use local butchers and bakers, stop shopping on Amazon and avoid going to supermarkets.”

He added: “It has been a journey – I’m not sure what happens next.

"I won’t be shutting up, I’ll be keeping a watchful eye on everything.

"I will continue to do something. I love Doncaster. It is important good people do something to fight for it. I’m going back to my business now and doing some social media on there, so that could be quite fun.”

FULL RESULTS – DONCASTER 2025 MAYORAL ELECTION

Ros Jones (Labour) – 23,805 (elected)

Alexander Jones (Reform UK) – 23,107

Nick Fletcher (Conservative) – 18,982

Julie Buckley (Green Party) – 2,449

Andrew Walmsley (Yorkshire Party) – 1,164

David Bettney (Social Democratic Party) - 929

Mihai Melenciuc (Liberal Democrats) – 895

Frank Calladine (British Democrats) – 448

Ashan Jamil (Workers Party of Great Britain) – 434

Andy Hiles (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) – 393

Richie Vallance (Independent) – 245

Doug Wright (Independent) -157

Total spoilt: 398

Total electorate eligible to vote: 227,496

Total number of votes: 73,406

Turnout: 32.27%