Editing Metropolitan county (section)

===Abolition of the county councils===
Just a decade after they were established, the mostly [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]-controlled metropolitan county councils (MCCs) and the [[Greater London Council]] (GLC) had several high-profile clashes with the Conservative government of [[Margaret Thatcher]] about overspending and high [[rates (tax)|rates]]. 
Government policy on the issue was considered throughout 1982, and the Conservative Party put a "promise to scrap the metropolitan county councils", and the GLC, in their manifesto for the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=David |title=Tory plan to abolish GLC and metropolitan councils, but rates stay |date=15 January 1983 |work=[[The Times]] |page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Haviland |first=Julian |title=Tories may abolish county councils if they win election |date=5 May 1983 |work=[[The Times]] |page=1}}<!--This article is not in the copy scanned at Interent Archive (different edition from earlier or later in day); content verified via The Times Archive at Gale, however.--></ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Tendler |first=Stewart |date=16 June 1983 |title=Big cities defiant over police |work=[[The Times]] |page=2}}</ref>

The exact details of the reform caused problems.<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=David |title=Whitehall admits problem in abolishing GLC and metropolitan councils |work=[[The Times]] |date=23 September 1983 |page=2}}</ref> In October 1983, Thatcher's government published a white paper entitled ''[[Streamlining the cities]]''<ref name="White paper">{{cite web|url=http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref21456.html |title=Cmnd. 9063 |publisher=Bopcris.ac.uk |date=27 March 2007 |access-date=9 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004841/http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref21456.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> which set out detailed plans for the abolition of the MCCs, together with the abolition of the GLC.<ref name=formula_unveiled>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Metropolitan counties white paper: 'Streamlined' city authorities formula unveiled |work=[[The Times]] |date=8 October 1983 |page=5 |url= https://ia800601.us.archive.org/11/items/NewsUK1983UKEnglish/Oct%2008%201983%2C%20The%20Times%2C%20%2361658%2C%20UK%20%28en%29_text.pdf |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=David |title=Labour storm over White Paper on council shake-up |date=8 October 1983 |work=[[The Times]] |page=1 |url= https://ia800601.us.archive.org/11/items/NewsUK1983UKEnglish/Oct%2008%201983%2C%20The%20Times%2C%20%2361658%2C%20UK%20%28en%29_text.pdf |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

The bill was announced in the [[Queen's Speech]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Bill to abolish GLC centrepiece of Queen's Speech |work=[[The Times]] |date=7 November 1984}}</ref><!--Not verifiable yet. Issue is missing from both The Times Archive at Gale, and Internet Archive.--> and was introduced into [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] soon afterwards. It became the [[Local Government Act 1985]];<ref name="1985 act">1985, c. 51.</ref> the MCCs and the GLC were abolished at midnight on 31 March 1986.

The last elections to the councils were held in May 1981; elections that would have been held in 1985 were abandoned under the [[Local Government (Interim Provisions) Act 1984]];<ref name="1984 act">1984, c. 53.</ref> the original plan had been for councillors' terms to expire in April 1985, and for councillors to be replaced by nominees from borough councils until 1986.<ref name=formula_unveiled />

While the abolition of the GLC was highly controversial, the abolition of the MCCs was much less so. The [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] leader [[David Steel]] had supported abolition of the MCCs in his 1981 conference speech.{{citation needed|date=September 2008}} The government's stated reasons for the abolition of the MCCs were based on efficiency and their overspending.

However the fact that all of the county councils were controlled by the Labour Party led to accusations that their abolition was motivated by party politics:<ref>{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Loughlin |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uyoRNDuojpwC&dq=%22streamlining+the+cities%22&pg=RA1-PA118 |title=Legality and Locality: The Role of Law in Central-local Government Relations |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1996 |isbn=9780198260158 |page=118}}</ref> the general secretary of the [[National and Local Government Officers' Association]] described it as a "completely cynical manoeuvre".<ref name=angry_reaction>{{cite news |title=Angry reaction to councils White Paper |work=[[The Times]] |date=8 October 1983}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2024|reason=No such article in that issue (see https://ia800601.us.archive.org/11/items/NewsUK1983UKEnglish/Oct%2008%201983%2C%20The%20Times%2C%20%2361658%2C%20UK%20%28en%29_text.pdf for full-issue scan), nor have one by this title been found in any other so far. No article by that title in the entire Times Archive at Gale.}}<ref name="Political">[http://www.politics.co.uk/issuebrief/domestic-policy/local-government/local-government-structure/local-government-structure-$366613.htm politics.co.uk Issue Brief] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113045315/http://www.politics.co.uk/issuebrief/domestic-policy/local-government/local-government-structure/local-government-structure-%24366613.htm |date=13 November 2007 }} and [http://jonathan.rawle.org/hyperpedia/counties/history.php Jonathan Rawle's website] refer.</ref> Merseyside in particular put up a struggle against abolition. Most of the functions of the MCCs passed either to the metropolitan borough councils, or to joint boards. Some assets were given to [[residuary body|residuary bodies]] for disposal. The split of functions from the metropolitan county councils was as follows:<ref>{{cite book |last=Kingdom |first=J. |title=Local Government and Politics in Britain |date=1991|publisher=Philip Allan|isbn=0860038319}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2024}}

{| class="wikitable" style="width: auto"
|-
! scope="row" | Special joint arrangements
| Grants to voluntary bodies, roads and traffic management, waste disposal, airports
|-
! scope="row" | Joint boards
| Fire, police, public transport
|-
! scope="row" | [[Quango]]s
| Arts, pensions and debt, sport
|-
! scope="row" | [[Metropolitan borough|District council]]s
| Arts, civil defence, planning, trading standards, parks, tourism, archives, industrial assistance, highways
|}