Despite Reform UK winning an overall majority of councillors in 2025, the directly elected mayoral model means the party has limited influence over key decisions.
As a directly-elected mayor, Labour’s Ros Jones has the same powers as a council leader and serves a four-year term of office.
“Relationships have been badly eroded amongst a small cohort of people at the senior leadership level politically and managerially and trust has been eroded between a significant proportion, but not all, of the elected membership and the senior officer leadership,” the review said.
“There appears to be a lack of acceptance of the realities of what the democratic outcomes from the elections mean, in terms of decision-making within an elected mayor model, for a political group with a large majority on the council.”
Since the election, internal conflict within the Reform group over the future of Doncaster Sheffield Airport has caused significant upheaval.
The leader of the Reform UK group in Doncaster, Guy Aston, stepped down in November 2025, claiming he had received “vitriolic texts that border on abuse” from members of his own party over a statement in which he supported the reopening of the airport.
