A year of unmandated and undemocratic Conservative rule in Hampshire aided and abetted by the Labour government. Residents up and down the length and breadth of Hampshire were supposed to have their say on the 1st of May this year in the County local elections.
Instead they’ve had their right to vote postponed for a year all in the name of administrative convenience. Because it would be far too cumbersome and difficult for the government to roll out their plans for devolution if a new council were elected in Hampshire in May. Or at least that's what they would like you to believe.
The reality of the situation is that the Labour government was more than happy for councils to delay elections in areas they knew they would never gain traction in; or indeed even lose a number of seats and councils altogether. Now we are left with a Conservative dominated council last elected in May 2021, in a wholly different time politically than what we have now. Those elections took place over 6 months before the party gate scandal broke in November 2021. Even since then we’ve had the mini budget, the Rwanda scheme and countless scandals break seemingly every day.
In Hampshire, the Conservatives track record is just as bad - cheap pothole repairs, cuts to bus services, closure of tips, cuts to highway maintenance and more. The reality is the current Conservative party is unfit for purpose, unfit to run Hampshire and unfit to champion the needs of local residents. They have lost any remaining sliver of respect on the political stage to try and negotiate for better funding and grants for Hampshire’s cities, towns and villages.
So now we’re left with a situation where nearly 1.5 million people in Hampshire must go a year without a democratically elected local government. And just before the government's announcement that elections were cancelled, HCC proposed a 15 per cent rise on council tax. Fortunately for residents the government shot down HCC’s request for this ludicrous tax rise. Unfortunately, this is just a first sign of things to come, as more significant decisions for Hampshire will be taken by unelected officials; many of whom face certain defeat when next at the ballot box.
During her statement, Angela Rayner justified the cancellation of elections in Hampshire and elsewhere by saying there was precedent for such action. What precedent might that be? According to the Secretary of State, elections have been postponed before, during World War II and at the start of the Pandemic in 2020. Both incidents of national crisis. This is not a moment of national crisis, this is a moment of political convenience.
People cannot and must not forget this appalling disregard for democracy in one of the world's oldest living democratic countries. Britain has a long and rich history of democracy, but sadly we might be witnessing a new era of indifference to our basic principles and beliefs rolling onto the political landscape.