Hampshire has been given the green light for potential devolution, with May's elections postponed until 2026.
On Wednesday, February 5, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner announced the six new potential devolution areas throughout England with “a view to mayoral elections in May 2026”.
On the list was Hampshire and Solent, alongside Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton.
Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, told the Commons: “These places will get a fast-track ticket to drive real change in their area.
“While devolution can sound techie, the outcome is simple – it’s a plan for putting more money in people’s pockets, it’s a plan for quicker, better, cheaper transport designed with local people in mind, a plan for putting politics back in the service of working people.”
READ MORE: Hampshire County Council votes on Labour's devolution paper
Turning to a seventh area, Ms Rayner said: “Lancashire is already deciding its mayoral devolution options and we will look at their proposals in the autumn in parallel with the priority programme.”
Ms Rayner added: "Councillors of all types, including district councillors, tell me the two-tier system isn't working.
"This government is committed to making simpler, more efficient and clearer structures so residents can access good public services without eye-watering price tags. These kinds of reforms won't happen overnight but we are determined to deliver fairer funding to end the postcode lotteries."
The Deputy Prime Minister also confirmed that the May 2025 elections in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will be postponed until May 2026.
Ms Rayner told the Commons: “The Government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there is a strong justification for postponement, and the bar is high, and rightly so.
“I am only agreeing to half of the requests that were made. After careful consideration, I’ve only agreed to postpone elections in places where this is central to our manifesto promise to deliver devolution.
“We’re not in the business of holding elections to bodies that won’t exist and where we don’t know what will replace them. This would be an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money and any party calling for these elections to go ahead must explain how this waste would be justifiable.
This comes less than a month since Hampshire County Council voted in favour of the government's historic devolution bill at 'the most important county council meeting in decades, if not centuries'.
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