County Councils were established in 1888 to administer services which were seen as most appropriately run by larger organisations with local accountability; in England and Wales the County Councils are perhaps best known as being responsible for education, and in London for public transport. From the 1930's to the 1960's voters for the London County Council consistently returned socialist administrations, but central government diluted the Labour vote by bringing leafy suburbs such as Kingston on Thames into an expanded Greater London Council in 1964. Labour narrowly won the first GLC elections but was subsequently defeated when Desmond Plummer formed the first Tory London administration for 33 years.
Labour regained control of London in 1973 and Ken Livingstone became leader in 1981 with a radical programme. Margaret Thatcher's conservative government responded by completely abolishing the Greater London Council in 1985. The Inner London Education Authority - which had retained responsibility for state schools - was also abolished, and education passed to the borough councils, despite vociferous opposition by parents and teachers.
Labour restored a city government to London in 2000 as the Greater London Authority, headed by a directly elected Mayor. The obvious popular choice for London Mayor was Ken Livingstone, but Tony Blair was firmly opposed to him, and Livingstone won the election as an independent candidate. Subsequently re-admitted to Labour, Ken has also given Green party members a role in London government.
London Government Today
The Mayor of London has wide-ranging powers over transport, policing and economic regeneration, and in 2007 gained new powers in planning, training and housing, but schools remain outside the mayor's remit.
The Mayor is accountable to the London Assembly, a body of 25 representatives who are partly elected from 14 geographical constituencies, and partly as representatives of the whole of London as "London-wide" members. This system of proportional representation gives smaller parties a greater chance of getting elected to the Assembly.
Islington is part of the North East constituency of the GLA, together with Hackney and Waltham Forest. Our constituency representative is Jennette Arnold. The London-wide Labour members are Nicky Gavron and Murad Qureshi.
In 2008 the Tories regained control when Boris Johnson was elected mayor, and the BNP gained its first seat on the Greater London Assembly. However Jenette Arnold was returned as GLA member for North East London, and the Labour vote in her constituency increased by 10% compared with 2004: Ken Livingstone took 49% of first preference votes in North East London, and Labour increased its representation on the GLA from 7 to 8 seats.
Ken Livingstone's web site: http://www.kenlivingstone.com/
Jennette Arnold: http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/arnoldj.jsp
Labour GLA Candidates: http://www.glalabour.com
London Elects: http://www.londonelects.org.uk/
GLA web site: http://www.london.gov.uk/
Photograph © Andrew Dunn, 8 June 2005.