May’s elections last chance to tell Keir Starmer ‘HANDS OFF PORTSMOUTH!’

16 Mar 2026
Keir Starmr and Rachel Reeves

LIB DEM CAMPAIGNERS say Labour’s plot to force the city into a giant “monster-council” has a chance of being binned depending on the result of Portsmouth’s crucial local elections this May.

The city’s Liberal Democrat campaigners have led the opposition to the Prime Minister’s emerging plans, which would swallow Portsmouth whole, dragging it into a mega-merger with Fareham, Havant, Gosport - and even Southampton!
 

Shockingly, the plan dumps a £67 MILLION black hole from near-bankrupt Hampshire County Council onto local shoulders. Critics warn of a day-one disaster for local people: 

  • Portsmouth’s weekly bin collections scrapped to
    fortnightly
  • Youth services axed,
  • Libraries closed,
  • Community wardens service wiped out,
  • Playgrounds
    locked-up

MAKE STARMER
LISTEN SAY LIB DEMS

Council Leader Steve Pitt has thanked the thousands of local people who signed the Lib Dems’ Hands off Portsmouth petition, which was recently taken to Westminster.

The local elections in May are an opportunity to force Keir Starmer and Labour to listen - or Portsmouth pays the price. The Lib Dem message is crystal-clear: HANDS OFF PORTSMOUTH!

 

Sign the petition today!

Hands off Portsmouth!

The Government wants Portsmouth to merge into a larger authority which will include other areas. Those areas have different needs, they are not Portsmouth and they may come with lots of Hampshire's debt which Portsmouth did not incur. Portsmouth should remain its own city and not be forced to merge and lose its identity.

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The Liberal Democrats may use the information you provide, including your political opinions, to further our objectives and share it with our elected representatives. Any data we gather will be used in accordance with our privacy policy: libdems.org.uk/privacy. You can exercise your rights and withdraw your consent to future communications by contacting us: data.protection@libdems.org.uk or: DPO, Lib Dems, 66 Buckingham Gate, London, SW1E 6AU.

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