ABSTRACT
With the creation of the London County Council in 1889, Britain was the first country to introduce area-wide metropolitan government. In the 1960s, London government was further reformed, and in the 1970s, six further area-wide metropolitan authorities were introduced to cover the conurbations of Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield. All seven of these new institutions were abolished in 1986, and the question of area-wide metropolitan government only came back onto the agenda in the late 1990s, culminating in the introduction of a new directly elected Mayor and Assembly for London.
