Conservative leader 'understands' public opposition to elected mayors in Hampshire and Sussex
Kemi Badenoch said "devolution doesn't fix problems" but as Labour was pushing ahead with the reforms "we have to make the best of it".
The government is creating new mayoral positions for 'Sussex and Brighton' and 'Hampshire and the Solent'.
They would be similar to those in London and Greater Manchester – with powers over transport, housing, employment, policing and fire services.
The role does not replace local councils, but ministers are separately carrying out a major shake-up of local government, abolishing separate district and county councils and forming new large unitary authorities.
The first mayoral elections in Hampshire and Sussex are planned for May 2026, pending the approval of Parliament and some of the affected local councils.
An official public consultation found 62% of residents in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight disagreed with the proposed new governance arrangements. Out of 5,988 respondents, just 24% agreed with the proposals.
Opposition was even higher in Sussex, with 66% of the 5,959 members of the public who responded to the consultation disagreeing with the plans for a mayoral combined county authority.
Asked by ITV News Meridian if she understood local opposition to the new directly-elected mayors, Kemi Badenoch said: "Yes, I do understand it and I've seen it all over the country.
"But Labour has decided that. We're not in government anymore. The Conservatives are the opposition so we have to make the best of it."
People on the Isle of Wight share their views on plans for a new 'Hampshire and the Solent' mayor
Kemi Badenoch added: "The thing is, devolution doesn't work if you get the wrong people in. Where devolution goes wrong, as we've seen with the SNP running Scotland and Labour running Wales, is that when people don't have good ideas, don't have the high calibre of candidates then it will go wrong."
The Tory leader visited Ryde alongside the party's candidate for mayor of Hampshire and the Solent, Donna Jones, Isle of Wight East MP, Joe Robertson, and Shadow Chancellor, Mel Stride.
The Conservatives are the only major party to select their candidates for the new mayoral races in the South. Long-serving police and crime commissioner, Katy Bourne, is the party's pick for the Sussex position.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Green Party all plan to announce their candidates in due course.
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