Democratic accountability is not an inconvenience but a responsibility.
That principle has guided my approach throughout the national discussions on local government reorganisation and the Government’s suggestion that councils might request a postponement of the May 2026 local elections.
I am pleased that ministers have now confirmed elections will proceed across Hampshire as planned - even as they are being delayed in other parts of the country. This is the right outcome for our residents.
Just before Christmas, Ministers consulted 63 local authorities, including Hampshire, on whether the 2026 elections should be deferred on the grounds that councils facing reorganisation cannot manage both that and election administration.
From the outset, my position was clear: Hampshire should not ask for a delay.
The reasons are clear:
- Democratic legitimacy cannot be paused. Elections are how residents choose their representatives.
Delaying them for administrative convenience risks undermining trust.
Hampshire residents deserve the opportunity to vote at the time promised, not at a moment that better suits a bureaucratic timetable.
- Hampshire has already experienced one postponement. The 2025 elections were delayed to allow the Government’s fast-track devolution process to proceed.
That process is now largely complete, securing a £1.4 billion investment pot for Hampshire and the Solent, significant additional skills funding, and new powers for the future mayor - whose own election has now been moved to 2028.
Asking residents to accept yet another delay would have been unreasonable.
- Residents need stability, not further uncertainty. Reorganisation already creates understandable concern among residents and staff.
Delaying elections would only have added to that uncertainty.
Holding them on time provides clarity and continuity.
Ministers have argued that postponement might free up capacity for structural reform.
While dropping one task inevitably creates capacity for another, democracy cannot be treated as optional.
If capacity is genuinely the issue, then it is reorganisation - not elections - that should be delayed.
Earlier this month, at an Extraordinary Council meeting, colleagues from all parties overwhelmingly supported the position that Hampshire should not request a postponement.
The Government’s decision now vindicates that stance.
Reorganisation, if it happens, will take years.
Elections are not an obstacle to reform; they are essential to ensuring any new structure has democratic legitimacy.
Residents must always have the right to choose who represents them.
Democracy is rarely convenient, yet its very inconvenience is its strength. It ensures power rests with the people.
Especially in uncertain times, protecting the democratic process is non-negotiable.
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