Portsmouth councillors split on whether Portsmouth or South East needs a metro mayor

It comes after a meeting held in early July between the Prime Minister and 12 regional mayors to discuss the shift of power away from Westminster towards cities and counties – a process known as devolution. A metro mayor in England is an elected official who leads a combined authority, a collaboration of multiple local councils within a metropolitan area.

The meeting hosted mayors such as London’s Sadiq Khan and Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham along with other mayors from the West Midlands and Tees Valley. However, there are no metro mayors representing the South East of England. Councillor Charlotte Gerada, leader of the Portsmouth Labour group, said “this seems mad” given that the South East is the most densely populated region in the UK.

She added that Portsmouth would benefit from a metro mayor due to national recognition, as mayors like Andy Burnham “make the case” for Greater Manchester and have been successful in bidding for government money and transforming the city. Currently, powers included in devolution deals mainly relate to housing, skills and transport.

Cllr Gerada welcomed this idea, highlighting the number of residents who rely on cars to enter and exit the city and “the pressure that’s putting on traffic and pollution”. “If we had a much more connected, green transport network across all those areas – that would give residents the confidence to leave their cars at home,” she said. “Transport is one of the highest carbon emitters in Portsmouth so everything we can do to reduce that.” By contrast, the Liberal Democrat leader of the council Steve Pitt, said any discussion about metro mayors “is quite a way down the road”. “There’s an awful lot of discussion that needs to happen amongst the different councils first – around how we may come together. There’s a huge amount of work that needs to be done, part of that is providing an evidence base either for or against why it would be a benefit and not just an assumption it would be.”

Cllr Pitt said he personally does not support the concept of metro mayors because he does not believe that adding a layer of government “necessarily improves things” and thinks it can be used by Westminster “to have fewer people to talk to.” Leader of the Portsmouth Independent Party George Madgwick said he supported the idea, saying any system that allows for local decision-making “can only be a good thing overall”. “It’ll give more chances to allow localised input on decisions and a better level of accountability and scrutiny of the policy decisions,” he said.

The Labour Party made economic growth one of its five missions for the government, which the Prime Minister said metro mayors are “absolutely essential” for. Local leaders must develop growth plans for each area to identify industries and necessary infrastructure for success. Previous attempts to establish a devolution deal for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight faded in 2017 following a division between the south and north of the county.