This accessible text summarizes and explains the structure of
British local government, focusing on key changes introduced during
the Thatcher/Major years and initiatives implemented by the current
Labour administration. While offering a detailed discussion of
these policies, the book examines how local government has sought
to respond in a proactive way to a range of important social,
political and economic changes.

Readers are introduced to local government as a lively and complex
site of political engagement. British local government is set in a
wider political, social and theoretical context. Throughout, the
authors argue that the attempt by the Thatcher and Major
administrations of 1979-97 to push local government into the role
of merely administrating centrally defined policies was largely
short-circuited. While outlining and explaining these changes and
their effects, the authors argue that far from being defenceless
victims of central government, local authorities devised numerous
strategies to protect their independent policy-making role. The
authors go on to examine the proposals for change introduced by the
Labour government and assess their implications for local
government in the twenty-first century.

This book will be essential reading for lecturers and students of
local government, politics, public policy and urban policy, as well
as practitioners.