Greater London Council Creation Political Control

The Labour Party had controlled the LCC from 1934 and by the 1950s elections were becoming uncompetitive, as the LCC boundaries by then covered only the inner city. The Conservative government sought to create a new body covering all of London.

A Royal Commission was set up under Sir Edwin Herbert in 1957 and reported in 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23, recommending the creation of 52 new London boroughThe administrative area of Greater London contains 32 London Boroughs of which twelve (plus the City of London) make up Inner London and twenty Outer London. Map History The present boroughs came into existence on April 1, 1965 with the creation of the Grs as the basis for local government. It further recommended that the LCC be replaced by a weaker strategic authority, with responsibility for public transport, road schemes, housing development and regeneration.

The recommendations were accepted in most part, but the number of new boroughs reduced instead to 32. Greater London covered the counties of London and Middlesextraditional county. administrative county before the creation of Greater London. Middlesex is an area in England, mostly covered by Greater London. It is one of the 39 historical counties of England. It includes the City of London, which was self-governin plus parts of Essex, HertfordshireHertfordshire (pronounced 'Hartfordshire' and abbreviated as 'Herts') is an inland county, officially part of the East of England Government region. It is one of the Home Counties. Hertfordshire is located to the north of Greater London, and much of the c, KentThis article is about the English county of Kent. See also Kent (disambiguation). Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. The county town is Maidstone. Kent has land borders with East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London, and a defined boundary wi and Surrey, and the county boroughCounty borough was a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom to refer to a borough or a city independent of county administration. History When the first county councils were created, it was decided that to let them have authority over the large tows of Croydon, East Ham and West Ham. Some areas on the boundary of the area fought successfully to be excluded from it (notably the Spelthorne and Potters Bar districts of Middlesex), fearing increased local taxation. Other areas in the Report that were not eventually made part of Greater London included Epsom and Ewell, Caterham , Esher, Warlingham and Weybridge.

GLC councillors elected for the LCC area became ex officio members of the Inner London Education Authority which took over the LCC responsibility for education; in outer London, the London Boroughs ran education services.

2 Political control

The first GLC election was on April 9, 1964 with each of the new boroughs electing a number of representatives. Despite Conservative hopes, the first GLC consisted of 64 Labour and 36 Conservative councillors and Labour Group leader Bill Fiske became the first Leader of the Council.

At the next election in 1967 the unpopularity of the national government produced a massive Conservative victory with 82 seats to 18 for Labour. Desmond Plummer became the first Conservative leader of London-wide government in 33 years. The Conservatives retained control in 1970 with a reduced majority.

In 1972 the electoral system was reformed to introduce single-member constituencies for the election after the 1973 contest, and extend the term of office to four years. Labour fought the 1973 election on a strongly socialist platform and won with 57 seats to 33 for the Conservatives. The Liberal Party won two seats.

The GLC's hopes under the Labour administration of Reg Goodwin were badly affected by the oil crisis of 1974. Massive inflation combined with the GLC's £1.6 billion debt led to heavy rate increases (200% in total before the next election in 1977) and unpopular budget cuts. Some months before the 1977 elections the Labour Group began to split. A left group, including Ken Livingstone, denounced the election manifesto of the party.

The Conservatives regained control in May 1977, winning 64 seats under their new Thatcherite leader Horace Cutler to a Labour total of just 28. Cutler headed a resolutely right-wing administration, cutting spending, selling council housing and attacking London Transport. In opposition the Labour party continued to factionalise, Goodwin resigned suddenly in 1980 and in the following leadership contest the little regarded left-winger Livingstone was only just beaten in a intensely tactical campaign by the moderate Andrew McIntosh. However the Labour left were strong at the constituency level and as the 1981 election approached they worked to ensure that their members were selected to stand and that their ideologies shaped the manifesto. The eventual manifesto topped out at over 50,000 words.

The May 1981 election was presented as a clash of ideologies by the Conservatives - Thatcherism against a 'tax high, spend high' Marxist Labour group, claiming that Andrew McIntosh would be deposed by Ken Livingstone after the election. McIntosh and Labour Party leader Michael Foot insisted this was untrue, and the Labour party won a very narrow victory with a majority of six. At a pre-arranged meeting of the new Councillors the day after the election, the Left faction won a complete victory over the less organised Labour right. McIntosh lost with 20 votes to 30 for Ken Livingstone. Livingstone, dubbed 'Red Ken' by some newspapers, managed to gain the guarded support of the Labour deputy leader Illtyd Harrington and the party Chief Whip and set about his new administration.

Livingstone was able to push through the majority of his policies and became surprisingly popular (only 16% of Londoners wanted the GLC abolished). The increased spending of the council led the national government to reduce and eventually end the GLC's central government grant as punishment.

3 Abolition and replacement

Livingstone's high-spend socialist policies, put the GLC into direct conflict with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government. In 1983 the cabinet agreed "in principle" to abolish the GLC and devolve its functions to the boroughs, the arguments for which were detailed in the white paper Streamlining the cities. The Local Government Act 1985 which abolished the GLC faced considerable opposition from many quarters but was narrowly passed in parliament, setting the end of the council for March 31, 1986. This turned the last term of the GLC into an attempt to find employment for their 22,000 strong workforce and for the distribution of the council's assets to 'friendly' boroughs.

The GLC was abolished at midnight on March 31 and the GLC assets were assigned to the quango London Residuary Body for disposal, including County Hall.

The Inner London Education Authority continued in existence for a few years, and direct elections to it were held.

After over a decade without a central governing body for London, a slimmed down version of the former GLC, the Greater London Authority was set up in 2000, and Mayor of London elections were won by Ken Livingstone.

4 Leaders of the GLC

Bill Fiske 1964-67
Desmond Plummer 1967-73
Sir Reg Goodwin 1973-77
Sir Horace Cutler 1977-81
Ken Livingstone 1981-84
John Wilson 1984
Ken Livingstone 1984-86

5 Elections to the GLC

6 See also

OXO Tower - controversially sold by the GLC for £750,000 in 1984.

London Government Politics of the UK

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1 Creation