Fears raised millions of pounds of levelling up cash for Gosport could be lost due to chaos in Downing Street after Boris Johnson announced he will resign

Peter Chegwyn, Liberal Democrat leader of Gosport Borough Council, said the authority was expected to submit a bid for huge swathes of cash to fund long-awaited community projects in the town.

However, with the resignation of prime minister Boris Johnson and the collapse of his government, Cllr Chegwyn fears the fallout of the political drama in Westminster could lead to Gosport missing out on its levelling up bid.

The concerns were amplified by the sacking of levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, yesterday. Downing Street has since appointed Greg Clark as the new levelling up secretary.

But speaking to The News today, Cllr Chegwyn said: ‘My concern was that we may get a period of great uncertainty with the government in terms of who's really in charge.

‘This week Gosport is submitting bids to government for millions of pounds in what’s called levelling up money for key projects in the town.

‘Will we get answers, will all that be up in the air, it does create great difficulty for councils like Gosport when we’ve been assured that there was a lot of government funding coming our way.’

Speaking of the PM, Cllr Chegwyn added: ‘He was a serial liar and the public has lost trust in him, my worry now is the knock-on effect now that so many ministers have resigned if he carries on until October.

‘There will be a short period of blood sweating, there will be lots of candidates and many of them will have delusions of adequacy.

‘But when they do choose a new leader the country needs a period of stability.’

Other council leaders have since reacted to the PM’s decision to quit as Conservative leader.

Sean Woodward, Tory leader of Fareham Borough Council, described the move as ‘inevitable’.

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The veteran Conservative insisted Boris Johnson still had a huge amount of support through March and April – despite scandals like the illegal parties in Downing Street during the pandemic.

He added: ‘A very forgiving support, most people weren’t interested in who ate cake or drank beer or anything like that but the end of the line was the Chris Pincher affair - that he sent out his ministers, to put it bluntly, to lie for him.

‘That is something that is very difficult for any politician, that’s just not something you would do, and that’s what brought him down and it’s so very sad.

‘I don’t believe that we would have won without Boris Johnson he had an absolute golden legacy the likes of which we haven't seen since Margaret Thatcher’s win in 1983.

‘I’m sad to see him go, I don't think we’ll see his like in terms of public attraction for a very long time but ultimately he was the architect of his downfall.'

Tory Alex Rennie, leader of Havant Borough Council, added: ‘I think it’s the right decision for the prime minister to resign, it’s clear he's lost the confidence of his cabinet and MPs

‘I think we need a leader who is honest with the public, someone that can be trusted - I'm sure our MPs will be going through a process of selecting a new leader.'