1998 referendum on the establishment of a Greater London Authority
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.
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
- ^ Greater London Authority (Referendum) Bill. House of Commons, October 30, 1997, accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ London referendum plan under firehrsg = BBC News. October 30, 1997, accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Greater London Authority (Referendum) Act 1998. legislation.gov.uk, 1998, accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ REFERENDUM ON CREATION OF A GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY. election.demon.co.uk, accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Greater London Authority Act 1999. legislation.gov.uk, 1998, accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ 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 ).