Councillor Guy Aston of Reform UK spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service for the first time since the elections on May 1, 2025.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00And we will get started.
00:03Councillor Aston, first of all, congratulations on a fantastic election result.
00:07Give us your thoughts on what you thought of the results and how you felt it went.
00:13Well they were stunning.
00:14We had a feeling from national polls anyway that we would do reasonably well, the pundits
00:20were saying 22 seats, we made it to 37, so it was breathtaking for us, better than we
00:26ever expected.
00:28And what about the cohort that you have?
00:30Obviously you've said many times before, and it's been a common line from reform councillors
00:34and reform members of the line, these are Doncaster civilians, people that have lived
00:38in Doncaster who just wanted to make a difference.
00:41What kind of people have you got in your group and what kind of councillors will they be?
00:44Well we have a broad cross-section of people, people who own small businesses, people who
00:49are retired, people who are tradespeople, it really is a group of Doncaster citizens.
00:58The main point I would make is that very, very few of them, very few, have ever been
01:04involved politically before.
01:06But they just felt the state of the country, the state of the nation, the state of Doncaster
01:12was such they had to do something.
01:15And before Christmas they were just citizens, now they are councillors.
01:19So that's a big step, a very bold step and a brave step for many of them to make.
01:24And at risk of being repetitive, because I know you've fielded this question already,
01:28but about the executive group invite from Ros Jones, what's your position on that?
01:34Right.
01:35We were not being offered what I would consider genuine cabinet positions.
01:40There were no portfolios, no authority, no decision making.
01:44We did not really quite thoroughly understand why we should be there and we have turned it
01:49down.
01:50So we will not be here in that executive.
01:55And how do you hope to impact decision making then if you're not in that room?
01:58Yes, Ros Jones has some executive powers to pass matters through, but a lot of the decision
02:05making has to come to the council chamber, has to go through committees, which the majority
02:11of we have a good number of reform people on.
02:14So we will scrutinise, we will observe, we will if need be call in.
02:19So it is going to be a matter of what I like to call constructive opposition.
02:24We are not going to just sit there and veto, veto, veto.
02:27That wouldn't do Doncaster any good at all.
02:30But we will scrutinise very closely and influence our committees.
02:34And again, you'll have seen some reporting from myself and the local democracy reporting
02:39service about social media posts from one of your council colleagues, Mark Broadhurst.
02:43I'm going to ask you, it's quite a direct question this one, but do you believe posts
02:46in comparing Islamic dress to bin bags and memes suggesting Adolf Hitler would have been
02:50a legend if we targeted Muslims are acceptable for a councillor to post?
02:55Well, the council members have a certain standard of behaviour.
02:58I have to say, I think that probably transgresses.
03:01But the matter is in the hands of the council now.
03:03So I don't really want to say any more until they give a verdict.
03:08Can I just ask if you've spoken to Councillor Broadhurst about his social media activity?
03:13I haven't, no.
03:14I only actually learnt about it yesterday.
03:17Given it's in the hands of the council, I'm prepared to leave it there.
03:22I will probably pick up with it.
03:23Of course I will.
03:24And I don't quite know how that's even happened, to be honest with you.
03:29And then just to finish on a slightly cheerier note than Councillor Broadhurst's social media
03:33history.
03:34Tell us how you hope the next four years will go for the council, but also for Reform UK
03:38in Doncaster.
03:41I hope we will achieve the influence and the outcomes that we're looking for.
03:46That whatever is, simplistically, whatever is being spent, invested by this council,
03:54is going for the best purposes to serve the people of Doncaster, basically.
03:59Excellent. Thank you.