Mayor of Doncaster

Not to be confused with Civic mayor of Doncaster.

The Mayor of Doncaster is a directly elected mayor, first elected on 2 May 2002, taking on the executive function of City of Doncaster Council.^[1] The incumbent mayor is Ros Jones elected as a member of the Labour Party, who won the election held on 2 May 2013. The position is different from the long-existing and largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors who are now known as the civic mayor of Doncaster.^[2]

Mayor of the City of Doncaster
Incumbent Ros Jones since 6 May 2013
Style	No courtesy title or style
Appointer	Electorate of Doncaster
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	Martin Winter
Formation	6 May 2002
Salary	£51,449 per year
Website	https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/mayor/mayor-home

In May 2012, voters decided in a referendum to keep the position of directly elected mayor.^[3]

List of elected mayors

Party		Name	Term of office
	Labour (2002–2008)	Martin Winter	6 May 2002	7 June 2009
	Independent (from 29 May 2008)[4]
	English Democrats (2009–2013)	Peter Davies	8 June 2009	5 May 2013
	Independent (from 5 Feb 2013)[5]
	Labour	Ros Jones	6 May 2013	Incumbent

Timeline

Elections

2025

Main article: 2025 Doncaster mayoral election

The seventh mayoral election was held on 1 May 2025. Unlike previous elections, this election did not provide for transfer votes due to the passing of the Elections Act 2022, which mandated that mayoral elections in England should be conducted using first-past-the-post rather than the supplementary vote system.

2025 Doncaster mayoral election^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDP	David Bettney	929
	Green	Julie Buckley	2,449
	British Democrats	Frank Calladine	448
	Conservative	Nick Fletcher	18,982
	TUSC	Andy Hiles	393
	Workers Party	Ahsan Jamil	434
	Reform UK	Alexander Jones	23,107
	Labour	Ros Jones	23,805
	Liberal Democrats	Mihai Melenciuc	895
	Independent	Richie Vallance
	Yorkshire	Andrew Walmsley
	Independent	Doug Wright

2021

Main article: 2021 Doncaster mayoral election

The election took place on 6 May 2021.

2021 Doncaster mayoral election[7]
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Ros Jones	27,669	43.3%	3,563	31,232	59.8	​​
	Conservative	James Hart	17,980	28.2%	3,039	21,019	40.2	​​
	Independent	Frank Calladine	5,166	8.1%				​​
	Yorkshire	Andy Budden	4,073	6.4%				​​
	Independent	Joan Briggs	3,904	6.1%				​​
	Green	Warren Draper	3,370	5.3%				​​
	Reform UK	Surjit Duhre	1,012	1.6%				​​
Majority						10,213	19.6%
Turnout			63,862	28.05%
	Labour hold

2017

The fifth mayoral election took place on 4 May 2017.

2017 Doncaster mayoral election[8]
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Ros Jones	32,631	50.9%				​​
	Conservative	George Jabbour	13,575	21.2%				​​
	UKIP	Brian Whitmore	7,764	12.1%				​​
	Independent	Eddie Todd	5,344	8.3%				​​
	Yorkshire	Chris Whitwood	3,235	5.0%				​​
	TUSC	Steve Williams	1,531	2.4%				​​
Majority
Turnout			64,080	29.35
	Labour hold

2013

The fourth mayoral election took place on 2 May 2013.

2013 Doncaster mayoral election[9][10]
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Ros Jones	21,996	35.8%	3,368	25,364	50.6%	​​
	Independent	Peter Davies	21,406	34.9%	3,319	24,725	49.4%	​​
	English Democrat	David Allen	4,615	7.5%				​​
	Independent	Michael Maye	4,557	7.4%				​​
	Conservative	Martin Drake	2,811	4.6%				​​
	TUSC	Mary Jackson	1,916	3.1%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	John Brown	1,122	1.8%				​​
	Independent	Tony Ward	1,110	1.8%				​​
	National Front	Dave Owen	1,066	1.7%				​​
	Save Your Services	Doug Wright	786	1.3%				​​
	Labour gain from English Democrat

2009

Main article: 2009 Doncaster mayoral election

The third mayoral election was held on 4 June 2009, the same day as the Elections to the European Parliament. Peter Davies of the English Democrats won. Placing second in terms of first preference votes, Davies beat Michael Maye, an independent with backing from the Liberal Democrats and Green Party,^[11] after second preference votes were counted.

2009 Doncaster mayoral election[12]
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	English Democrat	Peter Davies	16,961	22.5%	8,383	25,344	50.4%	​​
	Independent	Michael Maye	17,150	22.8%	7,840	24,990	49.6%	​​
	Labour	Sandra Holland	16,549	22.0%				​​
	Conservative	Jonathan Wood	12,198	16.2%				​​
	BNP	David Owen	8,175	10.9%				​​
	Community Group	Stuart Exelby	2,152	2.9%				​​
	Independent	Michael Felse	2,051	2.7%				​​
	English Democrat gain from Labour

In the elections of 2002 and 2005, Martin Winter won the mayoralty.

2005

2005 Doncaster Council mayoral election[13]
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Martin Winter	40,015	36.72%	5,727	45,742	55.08%	​​
	Independent	Michael Maye	27,304	25.06%	10,004	37,308	44.92%	​​
	Conservative	Raymond Bartlett	12,533	11.50%				​​
	Community Group	Jessie Credland	10,263	9.42%				​​
	Independent	Michael Cooper	7,773	7.13%				​​
	BNP	David Owen	6,128	5.62%				​​
	Green	Richard Rolt	4,930	4.52%				​​
Turnout			108,946	53.54	Rejected ballots: 7,569
Registered electors			234,514
	Labour hold

2002

2002 Doncaster mayoral election[14]
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Martin Winter	21,494	36.75%	4,213	25,707	66.92%	​​
	Conservative	Andrew Burden	9,000	15.39%	3,707	12,707	33.08%	​​
	Community Group	Jessie Credland	8,469	14.48%				​​
	Independent	Michael Maye	7,502	12.83%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Newman	5,150	8.81%				​​
	Independent	Terry Wilcox	4,036	6.90%				​​
	Independent	Shafiq Ahmad Khan	2,836	4.85%				​​
Turnout			58,487	27.02
Registered electors			216,097
	Labour win

Referendums

2012

A referendum was held after being triggered by the councils' ruling Labour group on the retention of the mayor system or reverting to the previous leader and cabinet system. The results of the referendum were in favour of retaining the mayor.

Mayoral referendum
3 May 2012

Choice	Votes	%
Elected Mayor	42,196	61.7
Cabinet System	25,879	37.8
Required majority	50
Valid votes	68,075	99.63
Invalid or blank votes	255	0.37
Total votes	68,630	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	223,404	30.72
Source: Doncaster Council[15]

2001

An all-postal ballot was held on 20 September 2001 on whether to establish an executive mayor, resulting in a majority of the electorate voting in favour.

Doncaster Mayoral referendum
20 September 2001

Choice	Votes	%
Elected Mayor	35,453	65
Cabinet System	19,398	35
Required majority	50
Total votes	54,851	100.00