THE political landscape in Europe has been redrawn, plans for Hampshire’s political independence remain unknown.

In the aftermath of yesterday’s shock EU referendum result that the UK had voted to leave a mood of uncertainty remains among the county’s top politicians over devolution.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, had pushed for Hampshire to be in charge of its own economy as well as have a directly elected mayor.

But following Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement that he would resign in October there is speculation over the future of Mr Osborne’s future.

Roy Perry, the Leader of Hampshire County Council said he didn’t know what would happen now with Hampshire taking control of its politics.

“There’s going to be a change of Prime Minister, a change in the role for the Chancellor, it was very much Mr Osborne who was pushing for an elected mayor. There may be less pressure if we have a new Prime Minister.”

But he hoped that whether there was an agreement “in principle or otherwise” for Hampshire.

“The people of Hampshire should be asked before we do anything,” he said.

“If devolution is to be meaningful then Hampshire should have the similar sort of power that Wales have got,” he added.

He felt that Westminster “would have pause for thought” before making any decisions.

Other council leaders hoped that now more attention could be diverted towards the issue.

Sean Woodward, leader of Fareham Borough Council said “the referendum had got in the way” and now he was “very keen to move ahead with the government’s offer” a Solent Combined Authority.

He said: “We’ve been talking about bringing powers home to our country, the idea of repatriating powers from Whitehall and bringing them to Hampshire is not lost on me.”

His plans are at odds with leader of Winchester City Council, Stephen Godfrey, and Cllr Perry, who want a Hampshire-wide authority and to see it remain as one.

But Ian Carr, leader of Test Valley Borough Council, hoped Whitehall would “get rid of all that [talk about devolution], stop mucking around and start governing the country and stop talking all that rubbish about elected mayors.”

“It’s not the best way forward,” he said.