Competitiveness, Partnership - and Democracy?

Nick Bailey

Local Economy, 1997, vol. 12, issue 3, 205-218

Abstract: The division of the powers and responsibilities of government in London has been a constant source of friction and debate between central and local government. In the wake of the abolition of the Greater London Council, the Conservative government waited for the corporate sector to take the lead. When this failed to materialise, a complicated array of unelected agencies and partnerships were constructed to promote London, deliver services and allocate expenditure. This paper reviews the nature and function of these organisations and examines proposals for regional development agencies and an elected strategic authority for the capital arising from the election of a Labour government in May 1997. While pointing to considerable organisational innovation, for instance in the setting up of the Government Office for London, it is argued that, during 18 years of Conservative government, the emphasis on policy delivery through a variety of discrete partnership agencies deliberately overlooked issues of subsidiarity and local accountability. Thus the debate about the relationship between central and local government in London reflects substantial philosophical differences between the two parties. The Labour government's proposals for a strategic authority and regional development agency will require a substantial reallocation of powers and functions between a number of overlapping and competing agencies and a redefinition of what are legitimately local and central functions.

Date: 1997
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/02690949708726393 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:loceco:v:12:y:1997:i:3:p:205-218

DOI: 10.1080/02690949708726393

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Local Economy from London South Bank University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().