Martin Winter

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Martin Winter is the current mayor of Doncaster, England. He represents the Labour Party. He became the first elected mayor of Doncaster in 2002 and successfully defended his position in 2005.

Martin Winter was a professional Rugby League player. He went on to win election to Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and quickly became leader of the Labour administration.

Doncaster became one of the first authorities to adopt the new system for directly elected mayors. In this position, he appoints his own cabinet from among the Councillors, and continues to hold executive power even though Labour no longer has a majority on the Council.

Doncaster Council had an infamous reputation for corruption throughout the period that became known as "Donnygate". The idea of switching to an elected mayoral system was partly to draw a line under that and find a new way of governance. However, problems have continued, including refusal to give a full disclosure of all the facts about "Donnygate".

Doncaster has gone through a period of rapid development and success in which Mayor Winter has played a key role, but the Mayor has been a highly controversial figure, especially in facing four separate police investigations. He has also been subject to eleven investigations by the Standards Board for England, a statutory body which deals with local government representatives behaviour and conduct. All the enquiries have cleared Mayor Winter with virtually no action being taken against him. The one exception consisted of him having to pay back 47p in postage to the Council when it was found that an envelope was posted in error for Party political purposes and the Council's services should not have been used.

Martin Winter won re-election in 2005 on the day of the General Election against a split opposition. There is now a campaign to call a referendum on abolishing the position. This has gained 11,000 signatures from local residents, while an online petition to support him gained 22 signatures at the time of writing. However, no proper public consultation on this issue has been carried out.