THE Hampshire Senate’s march to cover the whole of Hampshire has been halted after Portsmouth snubbed an invitation to join the controversial group.

As reported by the Daily Echo, the leaders of Southampton and Portsmouth city councils had been invited to become “senators”.

But it was revealed at yesterday’s Senate meeting that Cllr Gerald Vernon- Jackson, the leader of Portsmouth’s Liberal Democrat-controlled council, had declined.

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Rejection from Hampshire’s second biggest city is a major blow for Cllr Ken Thornber, the self-anointed chairman of the Senate and leader of Hampshire County Council.

Cllr Thornber set up the fledgling body last year in a bid to improve “partnership sharing”

between councils across the county and to stop the Government from carving the county council up into unitary authorities.

The Tory leader of Southampton City Council, Cllr Alec Samuels, accepted his invitation to join the Senate and attended the meeting at Winchester Guildhall.

However, further damage was done to the credibility of the Senate after leaders from three councils failed to show due to more important engagements.

As revealed by the Echo yesterday, plans had been drawn up to hire a professional lobbyist to make the Senate the “voice of Hampshire” in Westminster, and at a private Senate meeting it was also proposed to hire a public relations agency to “educate”

council staff on the Senate’s role.

But at yesterday’s public meeting, neither proposal was discussed in any detail.