HAMPSHIRE County Council leader Ken Thornber has been accused of being "disingenuous" and "passing the buck"

over who will pay to set up the Hampshire Senate.

The scathing criticism came after Cllr Thornber announced that the county council had been awarded £50,000 in Government cash to help set up the powerful new 17-seat group.

The Conservative leader said the grant meant that the senate would not cost the local council taxpayer a penny, as the £100,000 originally set aside in the county council budget would no longer be needed.

Cllr Thornber said this week that by awarding the grant, the Government had recognised that the senate "could be the way forward" for improving the two-tier system of local government.

However, the Daily Echo can reveal that the Government funding was actually awarded by a group comprised entirely of 13 Tory district and borough councillors spread throughout the south-east.

The £50,000 was handed over by the South East Improvement & Efficiency P a r t n e r s h i p (SEIEP) member board on May 14 - more than a week before the Daily Echo first reported on the senate plans.

E a s t l e i g h B o r o u g h Council leader Keith House said that the £50,000 was still public money and, therefore, the senate was still costing the taxpayer.

"It's disingenuous in that it is attempting to pass the buck. All of these improvement funds could be used to improve services in Hampshire, they do not have to be used to set up new administrations," the Liberal Democrat councillor said.

SEIEP board chairman Tim Hall said that the group had a budget to spend £27m in the south-east over the next three years to improve the efficiency of local government services. However, the Surrey councillor was unable to recall the senate proposal or why it had received £50,000 last month.

Cllr Thornber believes that the senate, made up largely of Tory district and borough council leaders, will save millions of pounds by improving services and will stop Government moves to create more super, unitary councils, like Southampton and Portsmouth.

Some of the members of the powerful group will also be unelected members of the public, such as representatives from the business community, NHS primary care trust and armed forces.

A county council spokeswoman said that the £100,000 earmarked for the senate would now help to keep council tax rises to three per cent for the next two years.

Last month, the inaugural meeting of the senate - which included an expenses paid overnight stay in a Southampton hotel - was cancelled at the last minute after some council leaders refused the invitation.

The Daily Echo has learned that July 16 and 17 have since been pencilled in as the new dates for the meeting.