Labour and Conservatives vote to cancel elections

The Conservatives who run Hampshire County Council, backed by Labour, have asked the government to CANCEL this May’s County Council elections.

With increasing public anger at the Conservative record of failure in Hampshire, local people are ready for change at County Hall.

Hampshire’s Conservatives are using the reorganisation of local government imposed by the government as a pretext for dodging judgement of their failing record – despite it being unclear what any new Council will look like or when it will be ready.

If the elections are cancelled, the current Conservative administration will continue without a democratic mandate – while continuing to cut vital services, stalling on environmental progress and presiding over the largest budget shortfall in the country

Ministers have said they will decide on the election delay by the end of January - pushing county elections until May 2026 at the earliest, or possibly even later.

The government is pushing radical changes to local government in Hampshire which could see the county broken up and Winchester forcibly merged with Basingstoke, Southampton or Portsmouth in an enormous mega- council of over half a million residents

Cancelling these elections will block Hampshire residents from choosing who will represent them when the decisions are made about the future of the county.

Winchester Westgate County Councillor, Martin Tod says, “The Conservatives have failed locally. Local people have had enough and should have the right to hold the Conservatives to account. Whatever happens, your local Lib Dem team will continue to work hard and fight for your priorities. But we must be allowed to have our say in May.”