Arms of the Greater London Council

The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. Image File history File links GLCArms. ... Image File history File links GLCArms. ... Local governments are administrative offices of an area smaller than a state. ... For more coverage on London, visit the London Portal. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... London County Council emblem is still seen today on buildings, especially housing, from that era London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London from 1889 until 1965, when it was replaced by the Greater London Council. ...

Creation

The Labour Party had controlled the LCC from 1934 and by the 1950s the Conservative Government considered that elections were becoming one-sided, since the London County Council (LCC) covered only the inner (generally Labour-voting) districts. The government sought to create a new body covering all of London. The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in Britain (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom. ...

Council Chamber of the GLC, from the majority benches

A Royal Commission was set up under Sir Edwin Herbert in 1957 and reported in 1960, recommending the creation of 52 new London boroughs 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. Council Chamber at County Hall, London File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Council Chamber at County Hall, London File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... In countries that are Commonwealth Realms a Royal Commission is a major government inquiry into an issue. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... The administrative area of Greater London contains 32 London Boroughs, of which 12 (plus the City of London) make up Inner London and 20 Outer London. ...

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 most of Middlesex, plus parts of Essex, Kent and Surrey, a small part of Hertfordshire and the County Borough of Croydon, County Borough of East Ham and County Borough of West Ham which had been independent of county control. For more coverage on London, visit the London Portal. ... Middlesex is one of the 39 historic counties of England. ... This article is about the county of Essex in England. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... This is about Surrey, England. ... Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom, officially part of the East of England Government region. ... Croydon was a local government district of Surrey from 1883 to 1965. ... East Ham is a place in the London Borough of Newham. ... West Ham is a place in the London Borough of Newham in east London. ...

Some areas on the boundary of the area fought successfully to be excluded from it, notably the Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District, Staines Urban District and Potters Bar Urban District 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 and Warlingham, Esher, and Weybridge. Sunbury-on-Thames is a Surrey suburb of London, England. ... Staines is a town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and part of the London Commuter Belt of South East England. ... Location within the British Isles Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England, just north of London. ... Epsom and Ewell is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England, covering Epsom and Ewell. ... Caterham is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. ... Warlingham is a large village on the south-eastern boundary of London, UK, just across the border in Tandridge district, east Surrey. ... This article is about the town. ... Weybridge is a large city in the Slough district of Moscow in Russia . ...

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 each operated as a local education authority. This page includes English translations of several Latin phrases and abbreviations such as . ... The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the education authority for the 12 inner London boroughs, from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. ...

Powers

The GLC was responsible for running services such as public transport (through London Transport), the fire service, emergency planning, and flood prevention. Skytrain Bangkok. ... Founded in 1933 by an act of Parliament under Transport Minister Herbert Stanley Morrison, The London Passenger Transport Board generally known London Transport was A public authority appointed under act of Parliament, charged with responsibility for providing an adequate and properly co-ordinated system of passenger transport (Buses including Green... Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ...

The GLC shared responsibillity with the London boroughs for providing roads, housing, and planning and leisure. Other functions were the responsibillity of the London boroughs. The administrative area of Greater London contains 32 London Boroughs, of which 12 (plus the City of London) make up Inner London and 20 Outer London. ... A typical rural county road in Indiana, USA, where traffic drives on the right. ...

Political control

The first GLC election was on 9 April 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. April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... William Geoffrey Fiske, Baron Fiske (July 3, 1905 _ January 13, 1975), commonly known as Bill Fiske, was the first Leader of the Greater London Council and oversaw the decimalisation of the Pound Sterling as Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board. ...

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. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Arthur Desmond Herne Plummer, KBE, Baron Plummer of St. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ...

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. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1973 calendar). ... The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party (the SDP) to form a new party which would become...

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. Sir Reginald Eustace Goodwin (usually known as Sir Reg Goodwin) (July 3, 1908 - September 29, 1986) was the Leader of the Greater London Council from 1973 to 1977 and a British politician. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born June 17, 1945), is a British politician who has been the Mayor of London since the creation of the post in 2000. ...

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 fractionalise: Goodwin resigned suddenly in 1980 and in the following leadership contest the little-regarded left-winger Ken Livingstone was only just beaten in an intensely tactical campaign by the moderate Andrew McIntosh. However the Labour left were strong at 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. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) is a British politician and a former barrister and chemist. ... Sir Horace Walter Cutler (July 28, 1912 - March 2, 1997) was a British politician and Leader of the Greater London Council from 1977 to 1981. ... The council house is a form of public housing found in the United Kingdom. ... Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born June 17, 1945), is a British politician who has been the Mayor of London since the creation of the post in 2000. ... A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. ...

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. Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born June 17, 1945), is a British politician who has been the Mayor of London since the creation of the post in 2000. ... The Right Honourable Michael Mackintosh Foot (born 23 July 1913), British politician, was leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983. ...

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.

Abolition

Ken Livingstone, while Leader of the GLC in January 1982.

Livingstone's high-spend socialist policies put the GLC into direct conflict with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government. At the time, Livingstone was the only Labour politician with any degree of power within public office and soon became a thorn in the side of the sitting Tory government. He deliberately antagonised Mrs. Thatcher through a series of actions including posting a billboard of London's rising unemployment figures on the side of County Hall, directly opposite Parliament), reducing London Underground and bus fares using government subsidies, entering into dialogue with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams at a time when he was banned from entering Britain due to his links with the IRA, and endorsing a statue of Nelson Mandela whilst Thatcher regarded the future South African president as a terrorist. Ken Livingstone, when leader of the Greater London Council This work is copyrighted. ... Ken Livingstone, when leader of the Greater London Council This work is copyrighted. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) is a British politician and a former barrister and chemist. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom. ... County Hall County Hall is a building in Lambeth, London, that was the headquarters of London County Council and later the Greater London Council (GLC). ... The Palace of Westminster, known also as the Houses of Parliament, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the House of Lords and the House of Commons) conduct their sittings. ... TUBE (チューブ; chūbu) is a Japanese popular music group. ... Sinn Féin (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone) is an Irish political party. ... Gerry Adams Gerry Adams, MP, MLA, (born 6 October 1948) is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for West Belfast. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which aimed, through the use of violence, to achieve three goals: (i) British withdrawal from Ireland, (ii) the political unification of Ireland through the merger of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and (iii) the creation of an all... Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela IPA: (born July 18, 1918) was the first President of South Africa to be elected in fully-representative democratic elections. ...

By 1983, Thatcher was determined to crush both Livingstone and the GLC, and 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. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A white paper can be an authoritative report on a major issue, as by a team of experts; a government report outlining policy; or a short treatise whose purpose is to educate industry customers. ... Streamlining the cities: Government proposals for reorganising local government in Greater London and the Metropolitan counties was a government white paper issued in 1983, by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher which lead to the abolition of the Greater London Council (GLC) and the metropolitan county councils (MCCs). ...

The government argued that the GLC should be abolished because it was inefficient and unnecessary, and that its functions could be carried out more efficiently by the boroughs. However, critics argued that its abolition was politically motivated, as it had become a powerful vehicle for opposition to Margaret Thatcher's government.

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 31 March 1986. It also cancelled the scheduled May 1985 elections. 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. GLC assets were assigned to the quango London Residuary Body for disposal, including County Hall, which was sold to a Japanese entertainment company and now houses the London Aquarium, amongst other things. The Local Government Act 1985 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The term Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation (or QUANGO), attributed to Sir Douglas Hague, was originally invented as a joke, but fell into common usage in the United Kingdom to describe the agencies produced by the growing trend of government devolving power to appointed, or self-appointed bodies. ... The London Residuary Body was a body set up in 1985 to dispose of the assets of the Greater London Council after the councils abolition in 1986. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The Inner London Education Authority continued in existence for a few years, and direct elections to it were held. The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the education authority for the 12 inner London boroughs, from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. ...

Replacement

Upon its abolition, London was left as the only major city in the world without a central administrative body. Most of the powers of the GLC were devolved to the London boroughs. Some powers, such as the fire service, were taken over by joint boards made up of councillors appointed by the boroughs - see waste authorities in Greater London for an example. Others, such as London Transport, were taken over by central government. The United Kingdom is made up of four parts - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ... Greater London has a number of waste authorities, responsible for waste collection and disposal. ... Founded in 1933 by an act of Parliament under Transport Minister Herbert Stanley Morrison, The London Passenger Transport Board generally known London Transport was A public authority appointed under act of Parliament, charged with responsibility for providing an adequate and properly co-ordinated system of passenger transport (Buses including Green...

It was argued by many people that this situation was chaotic and un-coordinated and a new London-wide body was needed to co-ordinate the whole city.

Tony Blair's Labour government was elected in 1997, and was committed to bringing back London-wide government. In 1999 a referendum was held on the establishment of a new London authority and elected mayor, which was approved by a two to one margin. The Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. ... The Labour Party has historically been the principal left wing political party of the United Kingdom since its formation in the early 20th century (see British politics). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

The new Greater London Authority (GLA) was established in 2000. The GLA has a very different structure to the GLC, consisting of a directly elected Mayor of London and a London Assembly. The Mayor of London elections were won by the same Ken Livingstone, who began his victory speech with the words: "As I was saying when I was rudely interrupted...". For more coverage on London, see the London Portal. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The current Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. ... The London Assembly is an elected body that supervises the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London. ...

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

William Geoffrey Fiske, Baron Fiske (July 3, 1905 _ January 13, 1975), commonly known as Bill Fiske, was the first Leader of the Greater London Council and oversaw the decimalisation of the Pound Sterling as Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board. ... Arthur Desmond Herne Plummer, KBE, Baron Plummer of St. ... Sir Reginald Eustace Goodwin (usually known as Sir Reg Goodwin) (July 3, 1908 - September 29, 1986) was the Leader of the Greater London Council from 1973 to 1977 and a British politician. ... Sir Horace Walter Cutler (July 28, 1912 - March 2, 1997) was a British politician and Leader of the Greater London Council from 1977 to 1981. ... Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born June 17, 1945), is a British politician who has been the Mayor of London since the creation of the post in 2000. ... John Wilson was a Labour Party member of the Greater London Council from May 1977 until the council was abolished in 1986. ... Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born June 17, 1945), is a British politician who has been the Mayor of London since the creation of the post in 2000. ...

Elections to the GLC

• 1964
• 1967
• 1970
• 1973
• 1977
• 1981

The first election to the Greater London Council was held on April 9, 1964. ... Turnout: 2,157,768 people voted ... Turnout: 1,920,416 people voted ... Turnout: 1,957,296 people voted The number of members returned was reduced from 100 (as in previous elections) to 92, as the electoral system moved from one where the London Boroughs each were multi-member electoral districts to 92 single-member constituencies. ... Turnout: 2,242,064 people voted ... Turnout: 2,250,118 people voted This was the last election to the GLC. The Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher took the decision to abolish the council in the mid-80s. ...

See also

• Members of the Greater London Council
• OXO Tower - controversially sold by the GLC for £750,000 in 1984.
• London Lesbian and Gay Centre

The following people served as Members of the Greater London Council, either as councillors or Aldermen. ... OXO Tower, London The OXO Tower is a building with a prominent tower on the south bank of the river Thames in London, in the London Borough of Southwark. ... UKP redirects here. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The London Lesbian and Gay Centre was a lesbian and gay community centre located at 67-69 Cowcross Street, London. ...