Greater London Council facts for kids
The Greater London Council (GLC) was a special government group for Greater London. It worked from 1965 to 1986. The GLC helped manage the city, like a big city council. It took over from an older group called the London County Council (LCC). The LCC covered a smaller part of London.
How the GLC Started
The Labour Party had been in charge of the old London County Council (LCC) since 1934. By the 1950s, the Conservative government thought that elections for the LCC were becoming too easy for Labour. This was because the LCC only covered the inner parts of London, which often voted Labour. The government wanted a new group that would cover all of London. This new group would be the Greater London Council.
Why the GLC Ended
Ken Livingstone was a leader of the GLC. His ideas about spending money on public services were very different from those of Margaret Thatcher. She was the Prime Minister and a leader of the Conservative government. Livingstone and the GLC often disagreed with Thatcher's government.
Livingstone did things that annoyed Mrs. Thatcher. For example, he put up a big sign showing London's rising unemployment numbers. He also supported a statue of Nelson Mandela. At that time, Thatcher's government saw Mandela as a terrorist.
By 1983, Thatcher decided she wanted to stop the GLC. Her government agreed to get rid of the GLC and give its jobs to the smaller London boroughs.
The Local Government Act 1985 was the law that ended the GLC. Many people did not agree with this law. But it was passed in Parliament. The Greater London Council officially ended on 31 March 1986.
What Happened After the GLC
After the GLC was closed, London was the only big city in the world without one main government body. Most of the GLC's jobs were given to the local London boroughs. Some services, like the fire service, were managed by special groups. These groups were made up of councillors from the boroughs. About 100 different groups were in charge of services across London.
Many people thought this situation was confusing. They felt London needed a new group to manage the whole city.
When Tony Blair's Labour government was elected in 1997, they promised to bring back a London-wide government. In 1999, people in London voted on this idea. They voted to create a new London authority and an elected mayor. Most people voted yes.
The new Greater London Authority (GLA) started in 2000. The GLA is set up differently from the old GLC. It has a Mayor of London who is directly elected by the people. It also has a London Assembly. The first Mayor of London was Ken Livingstone. He won the election and famously said, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted 14 years ago."
