'The Government is running scared': Fareham puts up fight over two-year Hampshire mayoral election delay

The Labour government has announced it is delaying the mayoral elections for the Solent from May 2026 to May 2028.

It said it wanted to slow the process down so that complex local government reorganisation plans could be completed first.

But councillors at a meeting in Fareham said the delay undermined democracy and the rights of citizens to choose how to shape their communities.

Others said the postponement had been done on a “whim” because Labour government knew it would not win any mayoral elections.

Members at a Fareham Borough Council meeting on December 18 voted to write to Steve Reed, the local govenment secretary, expressing concern and put on record their firm opposition to delaying the elections, and call for them to proceed as planned.

Leader of the council, Councillor Simon Martin (Con, Park Gate), said setting up mayoral authorities was part of Labour’s election manifesto, but major council reorganisation under LGR was not.

He said: “The government is running scared.”

He added that the government is rushing LGR, which needs more consideration at the prospect of changes to boundaries and geographical areas.

Councillor Ian Bastable (Con, Park Gate) said: “Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas, but we did. We chose to do the best for our residents and vote to be abolished as a council (as part of LGR).”

Criticising the government, he said: “It is a shame that the turkeys in Westminster do not understand this.”

Councillor Fred Birkett, who proposed the motion, said: “Democracy is not just a word but the foundation of our society. It is the principle that gives every citizen the right to choose who governs, hold them accountable and shape the future of their communities.

“Cancelling the mayoral elections undermines that very foundation.”

He said elections are only cancelled for public emergencies such as war or health scares like Covid in 2020.

He said he could only conclude that the government fundamentally misunderstood the scale of the task it set itself or that Labour believed it was unlikely to win any mayoral seats and would stand a better chance in 2028.

Councillor Connie Hockley also criticised the government for rushing its devolution and local government reorganisation plans, saying stopping the elections was a “whim”.

Cllr Gemma Furnivall (Fort Fareham), Fareham’s only Labour borough councillor, was the only person who voted against the motion.

There was cross-party consensus that Fareham’s local elections in May 2026 should not be postponed.