The leader of the Reform group on Doncaster Council has resigned in the fallout to the local party’s split over the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Guy Aston stepped down as leader, claiming he had received “vitriolic texts that border on abuse” from members of his own party.

Branch chairman Irwen Martin has also resigned, while Reform councillor Nicola Brown is now sitting as an independent councillor.

Earlier this week, Councillor Aston had controversially released a joint statement with the Labour Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones in which the pair said they were “in agreement” on the need to borrow £57m to fund the reopening of DSA.

Cllr Guy Aston has stepped down as Reform UK leader in Doncaster.

placeholder image — Cllr Guy Aston has stepped down as Reform UK leader in Doncaster.

The statement came in advance of a crunch meeting on Thursday where councillors on the local authority were voting on the funding decision. Reform holds more than 30 of the council’s 55 seats – making its position key to whether the funding would be released.

Sources within Reform UK expressed anger at the release of the joint statement, with claims it was being viewed as Aston “getting into bed” with Labour.

Warnings were made in party WhatsApp groups from the party whip that anything other than a vote for the DSA funding would lead to suspension.

Councillor Jason Charity resigned from the Reform leadership team following the joint statement – leading to an attempt on Thursday by Councillor Aston to have the former man removed from his current role as chair of the council’s audit committee.

The attempt to remove him was rejected by Reform councillors, allowing Councillor Charity to stay in the audit post.

The vote in favour of funding DSA was also passed on Thursday by 42 votes to nine.

Details of which councillors did not back the proposals have not yet been published at the time of writing.

In a resignation email to his councillors on Friday, Aston wrote: “Since the end of yesterday’s Full Council Meeting, I have received several, unpleasant, vitriolic texts that border on abuse.

“While I would expect such behaviour from the extreme wing of our opponents, it is disappointing to see it coming from my own side, Reform councillors, and a few others. I believed Reform was better than this; clearly, I was mistaken. As a result, with immediate effect, I am resigning as the leader of Reform in Doncaster. I will focus my time and efforts on my ward instead.”

It has also emerged that Mr Martin, who is not a councillor, stepped down as branch chairman on Thursday night. He has not given a reason for the resignation.

Councillor Nicola Brown, who was elected to represent the Adwick & Carcroft ward, will now sit as an independent councillor.

She was approached for comment but had not responded by time of publication.

Labour Mayor Ros Jones has separately thanked councillors who backed the DSA funding decision.

She said: “Without this funding support we would not be able to fully reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport. Had we not secured this cross-party support the programme would have had to stop, that was the enormity of the decision taken by full council.”