Row over who should chair board on £1.3bn devolution authority with Reform saying it should lead the way
Reform councillor George Madgwick believed he should play a leading role in the new authority
A row is brewing over who should take on a leading political post on the new regional authority armed with a £1.3 billion investment fund.
Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority (HSCCA) is due to hold its first board meeting later this month, where a chairman will be appointed.
The organisation, which has devolved powers and funding from Westminster, will operate without an elected mayor until residents go to the polls in 2028.
While the board will include two councillors from Hampshire County Council and one each from Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, a lack of consensus has emerged over who should chair it.
Reform UK Hampshire group leader George Madgwick said the new authority should not be “stitched up behind closed doors by the old parties”. He said it should reflect the democratic will of voters across the region.
Cllr Madgwick said: “The people of Hampshire and the Solent have already spoken.
“If the mayoral election had taken place in 2026 as originally expected, the evidence from the ballot box shows Reform UK would have topped the poll across the combined authority area.”
HSCCA will be responsible for key strategic areas including devolution, transport, economic growth and skills.
Under its devolution deal, the authority will receive investment funding of £44.6 million a year for 30 years. However, for the first two years before the regional mayor is elected, the allocation will be £17.84 million.
Cllr Madgwick, who is also a Portsmouth City Council member, argued Reform UK had the strongest “mandate” for the role of chairman.
He said: “The first chair will help set the tone, culture and priorities of the combined Authority before the first mayor is elected.
“That role should not simply be handed to the political establishment.
“It should go to the party with the strongest democratic claim across the whole Hampshire and Solent area.
“Residents voted for change.
“They voted for accountability, value for money and a break from the same old political management that has left local government in crisis.
“Reform UK has the mandate to provide that leadership.”
This view was not shared by Hampshire County Council’s Conservative leader Nick Adams‑King.
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He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “While I understand why Cllr Madgwick might suggest there should be a Reform chair, it’s important to understand the combined authority board’s interim role is very different from that which it will have once a mayor is elected.
“With representatives from the five main political parties and groups across the region, its immediate task is to work by consensus and establish the authority’s governance, committees and core policies.”
Cllr Adams‑King said the chairmanship was not a “proxy mayoral contest” and the role should go to someone with experience, commitment and time, so the authority is ready to deliver the priorities of whoever residents elect as mayor in 2028.
He added: “This is about competence and governance, not party politics.”
Sarah Bogle, Labour leader of Southampton City Council, said: “Cllr Madgwick is part of the discussions and is now a member of the five‑strong board which includes leaders from all upper tier authorities in Hampshire, each of a different political persuasion, each have their own ‘mandate’.
“This means he will already have a strong voice and will lead on at least one area of the new county combined authority’s work.
“We will be seeking to make decisions by consensus.
“The chair of the board is not like the new mayor who will be elected in 2028.”
Cllr Ed Blake, who leads the Isle of Wight Council’s Conservative group, said it is becoming increasingly clear Reform ‘can’t put their money where their mouth is’.
He said: “Reform UK won 30 per cent of the vote in the council elections here on the Island in May. They have since tried to evade public scrutiny by declining the chance to take leadership of the council and instead put up an independent as leader with which can only be assumed that they intend to treat as a puppet.
“This is despite local Reform UK election campaigns saying they had the talent to lead and take control. Only the Conservatives have actual plans to sort things out at local, regional, and national levels.”
The Isle of Wight Council’s new leader, Jonathan Bacon, has firmly denied being a ‘puppet’.
He previously said he was approached with the suggestion that, in light of his experience, he might take the role and that ‘no deals were done’, with no undertakings to support any particular group.
Isle of Wight West MP Richard Quigley meanwhile said it is ‘unclear’ how Reform have the democratic mandate to chair the authority when they were unable to take control of any councils within the region.
He told the LDRS: “I hope this indicates that Cllr Madgwick finally realises that devolution matters: Strategic Authorities with elected Mayors will receive more powers over transport, planning, housing, and economic regeneration.
“Hampshire and Isle of Wight residents deserve to be represented by someone who takes this opportunity seriously and does their best for our communities.
“In terms of his demand that Reform automatically take the chair role, I am slightly confused as to what he is suggesting.
“Is he saying that his idea of proportional representation should usurp the proper process or is he just shouting about it to divert our attention from something else?”
The Labour government delayed the mayoral election by two years, saying the move would give more time to focus on the separate programme of restructuring councils in the regions.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has approached the leader of Portsmouth City Council for comment.