A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England, covering urban areas within metropolitan counties.

The first metropolitan boroughs in England were created in London in 1899, ten years after the formation of London County Council. These were abolished in 1965 with the expansion of London into Greater London, and replaced with several larger London boroughs.

The current metropolitan boroughs were created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. New metropolitan counties were created to cover the six largest urban areas in England, and these were subdivided into metropolitan boroughs. (The new authorities were actually defined as metropolitan districts, but since they inherited the status of their predecessors, all metropolitan districts have borough or city status.) Unlike the non-metropolitan districts, the metropolitan districts were also Local Education Authorities.

In 1986 the metropolitan county councils (MCCs) were abolished (by the Local Government Act 1985) and most of their functions were devolved to the boroughs, making them to a large extent unitary authorities. However, this description is not normally used; although most of the functions of the MCCs were devolved to the boroughs, some of their functions were taken over by joint boards - the boroughs appoint councillors to these boards to run some county-wide services, including emergency services, public transport, waste disposal and civil defence.

The metropolitan boroughs are:

For the historic London metropolitan boroughs see County of London.

See also

• Subdivisions of England
• Passenger Transport Executive