Editing Greater London Authority (section)

==Background==
{{Main|History of local government in London|Greater London Council}}
In 1986, the [[Greater London Council]] was abolished by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government of [[Margaret Thatcher]]. Many people have surmised that the decision to abolish the GLC was made because of the existence of a high-spending left-wing [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] administration under [[Ken Livingstone]], although pressure for the abolition of the GLC had arisen before Livingstone took over, and was largely driven by the belief among the outer [[London borough council]]s that they could perform the functions of the GLC just as well.

On abolition, the strategic functions of the GLC were transferred to bodies controlled by central government or joint boards nominated by the [[London borough council]]s. Some of the service delivery functions were transferred down to the councils themselves. For the next 14 years there was no single elected body for the whole of London. The Labour Party never supported the abolition of the GLC and made it a policy to re-establish some form of citywide elected authority.