Divisions between local and national government

• As part of Thatcher's objective to reduce the size of government and roll back the state, the power of local government was reduced
• Since Thatcher's resignation in 1996, local government has continued its decline
• After its election victory in 1997, Labour continued to cap local spending and allowed local government to raise only 30% of its own funding
• Thatcher's distaste for the left meant that Labour-controlled councils were an inevitable target for local government cuts, and many northern councils controlled by Labour saw themselves as warriors adjacent to Thatcher's government in the 1980s
• Economic powers were taken away from local councils in Merseyside and London and were replaced by the introduction of development corporations headed by central government
• This style of urban regeneration directed by national government has been influential ever since, and the re-development projects in London and Liverpool are now seen as effective
• Thatcher's government also moved to abolish the 6 metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council in 1986
• The GLC leader, Ken Livingstone, was a major figure on the left of the Labour Party, came to embody everything that Thatcher disliked about local government