Stalwart councillor Roy Perry re-elected as Tory boss for Hampshire

Tories unanimously voted in the stalwart Romsey Rural representative, who has been a county councillor since 2005. Cllr Keith Mans, who represents Brockenhurst, was also unanimously re-elected as deputy group leader.

Currently, the controlling Conservative group holds 56 of the 78 seats on the county council. Closest opposition the Lib Dems have 19 seats.

Cllr Perry said: ‘To be council leader of such a great county is a real honour, but also daunting. We all know the financial challenges facing local government. The ageing of the population alone is putting more and more pressures on our social services.

‘As the government, at a national level, faces up to funding pressures for the health service, defence, pensions – let alone the costs of Brexit – we know local government is going to be low down their list of spending priorities. This means we have to find our own solutions by economies and efficiencies and new ways of raising funds.

‘Fortunately the size and scale of Hampshire, the quality of its officers over many years, and its resources, means it is a better placed than most councils to deal with these pressures.’

Cllr Perry has been a councillor since 1970 when he was elected as Chandlers Ford member on Eastleigh Borough Council. He was MEP for Wight and Hampshire South from 1994 to 2004.