1998 referendum on the establishment of a Greater London Authority

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On May 7, 1998 , a referendum was held to establish a Greater London Authority in London. Voters were asked if they would support the establishment of an elected representative assembly ( London Assembly ) and an elected Lord Mayor ( Mayor of London ) for the Greater London area . With a very low turnout of 34.1%, a large majority of voters voted in favor of the institutions proposed by the government.

history

The Greater London Administrative Unit was formed by the London Government Act 1963 , which came into force on April 1, 1965. It enclosed the previous administrative counties of Middlesex and County of London , as well as parts of the ceremonial counties of Essex , Hertfordshire , Kent and Surrey . The highest elected self-government bodies were the Greater London Council for the 32 outer London Boroughs and the City of London Corporation for the City of London , the actual historic inner city. In addition, considerable competences remained with the subordinate London Borough councils (district council assemblies). 1986 the Greater London Council was dissolved again. The main reason was the permanent conflict between the Labor- led city government under Ken Livingstone and the conservative government under Margaret Thatcher . The powers of the Greater London Council were mainly transferred to the London Borough councils and partly to the central government.

After the general election in 1997 , the Labor Party came back to power after 18 years of conservative government. The government of the new Prime Minister Tony Blair had undertaken an extensive program of social and political reform. This also included the devolution of the government with the establishment of separate parliaments for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Greater London region should also have a central elected assembly and a Lord Mayor. One of the main ideas behind this was the idea of ​​creating bodies that would better coordinate the activities of the various London Borough councils .

In referendums in Scotland on September 11, 1997 and in Wales on September 18, 1997 , the majority of voters voted for the establishment of their own regional parliaments.

On October 30, 1997, the Blair government submitted a bill to the House of Commons, the Greater London Authority (Referendum) Bill , which included a plan for a vote to set up an elected London Assembly and an elected Lord Mayor, a Mayor of London . With the conservative opposition and also with some Labor dissidents like Ken Livingstone, the fact that both institutions should be voted on was criticized. The Conservatives supported the plan to set up a major but opposed the establishment of a London Assembly . Ultimately, the draft law was passed by a government majority in the lower house.

Question of the referendum

The question asked was:

"Are you in favor of the Government's proposals for a Greater London Authority, made up of an elected mayor and a separately elected assembly?"

"Are you in favor of the government's proposal to set up an agency for Greater London with an elected mayor and an elected assembly?"

The question was a simple Yes / No answer (Yes / No).

Results

Of the 5,016,064 eligible voters in the Greater London area, 34.1% participated. 26,178 (1.5%) of the votes were invalid.

Results by borough (percent yes votes, numbering as in the table)
Results by boroughs (valid votes)
No. Administrative
unit 		be right percent Participation
Yes No Yes No
1 City of London 977 574 63.0 37.0 30.6
2 Barking and Dagenham 20,534 7,406 73.5 26.5 24.9
3 Barnet 55,487 24.210 69.6 30.4 35.3
4th Bexley 36,527 21,195 63.3 36.7 34.7
5 Brent 47,309 13,050 78.4 21.6 35.6
6th Bromley 51,410 38,662 57.1 42.9 40.2
7th Camden 36.007 8,348 81.2 18.8 32.8
8th Croydon 53,863 29,368 64.7 35.3 37.2
9 Ealing 52,348 16.092 76.5 23.5 37.8
10 Enfield 44,297 21,639 67.2 32.8 32.8
11 Greenwich 36,756 12,356 74.8 25.2 32.4
12 Hackney 31,956 7.195 81.6 18.4 33.8
13 Hammersmith and Fulham 29,171 8,255 77.9 22.1 33.6
14th Haringey 36,296 7,038 83.8 16.2 29.9
15th Harrow 38,412 17,407 68.8 31.2 36.0
16 Havering 36,390 23,788 60.5 39.5 33.8
17th Hillingdon 38,518 22,523 63.1 36.9 34.4
18th Hounslow 36,957 12,554 74.6 25.4 31.9
19th Islington 32,826 7,428 81.6 18.5 34.2
20th Kensington and Chelsea 20,064 8,469 70.3 29.7 27.9
21st Kingston upon Thames 28,621 13,043 68.7 31.3 41.1
22nd Lambeth 47,391 10,544 81.8 18.2 31.7
23 Lewisham 40,188 11,060 78.4 21.6 29.3
24 Merton 35,418 13,635 72.2 27.8 37.6
25th Newham 33,084 7,575 81.4 18.6 27.9
26th Redbridge 42,547 18,098 70.2 29.8 34.9
27 Richmond upon Thames 39,115 16,135 70.8 29.2 44.5
28 Southwark 42,196 10,089 80.7 19.3 32.7
29 Sutton 29,653 16.091 64.8 35.2 34.9
30th Tower Hamlets 32,630 9,467 77.5 22.5 34.2
31 Waltham Forest 38,344 14,090 73.1 26.9 33.6
32 Wandsworth 57.010 19,695 74.3 25.7 38.7
33 Westminster 28,413 11,334 71.5 28.5 31.8
total 1,230,759 478.413 72.01 27.99 34.1
Source: The Independent

Ultimately, all London boroughs and the City of London voted with a clear majority for the establishment of a central Greater London Authority . The approval was significantly higher in the inner city districts than in the outer districts. The turnout was relatively low, however.

Further development

In 1999 the Greater London Authority Act 1999 came into force. The first election to the London Assembly took place on May 4, 2000, parallel to the election of the Mayor of London . the mayoral election was won by Labor dissident Ken Livingston, who ran as an independent, against the official Labor candidate Frank Dobson. Nine Labor MPs, 9 Conservatives, 4 Liberal Democrats and 3 Green Party MPs were elected to the Assembly.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Greater London Authority (Referendum) Bill. House of Commons, October 30, 1997, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  2. ↑ London referendum plan under firehrsg = BBC News. October 30, 1997, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Greater London Authority (Referendum) Act 1998. legislation.gov.uk, 1998, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  4. ↑ REFERENDUM ON CREATION OF A GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY. election.demon.co.uk, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Greater London Authority Act 1999. legislation.gov.uk, 1998, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Mark Sandford, Lucinda Maer: Issues of Importance: The scrutiny role of the London Assembly . Ed .: The Constitution Unit. June 2004, ISBN 1-903903-33-9 , pp. 6 (English, pdf ).