Portsmouth councillor set to stand for a second seat in Havant local elections

Councillor Ryan Brent, who represents the Drayton and Farlington ward, is on the ballot for the Purbrook ward in Havant – a decision neither leader of the two councils’ Conservative groups said they were concerned by.

But councillor George Madgwick, the leader of the Portsmouth Independents’ Party, who last year faced questions over his ‘commitment’ to the city council after standing for Winchester City Council, said support for Cllr Brent showed the party had double standards.

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‘Only a year ago the Portsmouth Conservatives labelled me a “greasy pole climber,” and wrote letters to residents in Paulsgrove condemning my choice to stand in another seat,’ he said. ‘They even called me to stand down from Portsmouth.

‘So I assume the Portsmouth Conservatives remain with the same standpoint and now condemn their own Conservative Portsmouth deputy leader and will be forcing him to stand down in the next couple of days. Oh what? they’re being silent about it? Shock. [They are] hypocrites.’

Cllr Brent has been contacted for comment but has not responded.

However, Alex Rennie, the Conservative leader of Havant Borough Council said he had no issue with any councillor representing two councils.

‘This is very common in Havant,’ he said. ‘We have councillors who are on both Hampshire County Council and Havant Borough Council.

‘Ryan Brent has put himself forward as a candidate in Havant and I’m confident he can work well for the residents of both areas.’

Councillor Simon Bosher, the leader of Portsmouth City Council’s Conservative group, who last year said Cllr Madgwick’s decision to stand for a second council would leave his ward constituents ‘shortchanged’ said he had ‘a long conversation’ with Cllr Brent and had no concerns over the workload.

He said: ‘We have ambitious people in our party and it’s my job as leader to nurture that and that’s something I’ve always said I would do my best to support.

‘We had a councillor last year doing two jobs in Terry Norton as deputy police and crime commissioner and that caused no issues. There’s a long history of this sort of thing in Portsmouth: Stephen Morgan was both an MP and city councillor.’