ABSTRACT
The Liberal Party's near hegemonic position naturally had significant implications for the style of local politics and the policy priorities adopted by the council. Leicester was unusual in that the town and ward boundaries established in the late 1830s with the incorporation of the town remained constant for over 50 years. In 1885 the Liberal Association's finance and general purposes committee even went as far as sending a deputation to meet the town's municipal leaders to persuade them to give a larger degree of support to the activities of the Association. The growth of centralisation, partisanship and the decline of committee government were rapid processes. However, many of the older facets of council management remained. The issue of committee authority came to a head shortly after the election of the new council in 1891. Demands for municipal expenditure increases from individual committees clashed with the generally held desire to keep down rates.
