Local elections 2025: polls close in mayoral elections across Yorkshire with Reform tipped to do well

Nigel Farage’s party is also tipped to win mayoralties in Hull and East Yorkshire, Greater Lincolnshire and in City of Doncaster Council.

Counting in the latter two areas took place overnight, with results expected early this morning.

Labour’s Ros Jones, who has been Mayor of Doncaster since 2013, is hoping to hold on for another term.

She has pledged, if victorious, to reopen Doncaster and Sheffield Airport in the spring of 2026.

As mayor, Ms Jones proposed that £105m will be loaned by the council to Fly Doncaster, a council-owned company created to oversee the airport, using its share of devolution funding from South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard.

The airport has been the major issue of the election, with Reform UK candidate Alexander Jones saying that “we should look at the whole infrastructure and financial power that we can provide to make our airport a success”.

On top of the mayor - who leads City of Doncaster Council - all 55 councillors are up for election, with a result expected this afternoon.

While in Greater Lincolnshire, former Tory Morley and Outwood MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who has since defected to Reform UK, is tipped to win it for Mr Farage’s party.

However, Conservative candidate Rob Waltham was within the margin of error, according to the latest polls.

Both candidates have pledged to work closely with the new mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire to ensure the entire Humber Estuary can benefit from devolution.

It will mean the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber is covered by devolution deals, giving more power to local politicians.

In Hull and East Yorkshire, the mayor will act as a figurehead on the national stage, and receive powers covering transport, housing and skills.

This result is expected in early afternoon, with all four main parties in with a chance of winning it.

Reform UK’s Luke Campbell led the polls going into polling day, with people praising the Olympic gold medallist for his local roots.

However, business leaders in the region have warned of his inexperience in the political arena, and lack of answers around some of the big issues for the Humber going forward, such as carbon capture and storage.

Chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Henri Murison wrote in The Yorkshire Post that Reform UK’s pledge to scrap net zero “may resonate in Westminster’s culture wars”.

But, he said: “Repeating that line in a region like the Humber — the country’s leading region in offshore wind and in greatest need of industrial decarbonisation — is to ignore economic reality.”

Close at Mr Campbell’s heels, according to the polls, is Tory Coun Anne Handley and Lib Dem Coun Mike Ross.

Both have experience of leading East Riding of Yorkshire and Hull City Council, respectively.

Zoë Billingham, director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North, said: “I think there’s a lot of arrogance in Westminster that local and regional elections matter because they’re a litmus test for national elections.

“Whereas increasingly, especially with devolution, who these local and regional leaders are really matters.”

Ms Billingham explained that the Government is likely to "ratchet up powers” being devolved to mayors and local authorities.

“This is the beginning of a devolution journey for these places,” she added, “but who gets it, their relationship to the government and their ability to reflect local priorities has to be the foremost concern.”

Across England, experts have suggested the Tories could lose between 500 and 600 seats, with gains for the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and, especially, Reform.

The last time these councils were contested was in 2021, which was the high watermark of Boris Johnson’s popularity after the successful roll out of the Covid vaccine.

Luke Tryl, UK director for More in Common, explained that these elections “are not really being fought on Labour territory” and so a good result for Sir Keir would be treading water.

“We are truly in the era of three, four or five-party politics,” he said.

“One thing to be looking out for is people winning on quite small shares of the vote.”