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When this book was originally published in 1988, recent studies of policy-making in Britain had suggested that decisions were made as a consequence of the interplay of private and public interests and the government. This work concludes that, at least in the context of policy-making towards local government, Cabinet ministers and senior Civil Servants make decisions with little serious reference to local interests. This view is established through an analysis of the development of intergovernmental relations in Britain and the relative powers of the various institutions concerned with policy-making. It discusses the process of policy making towards local government and illustrates the findings through case studies of the creation and abolition of the GLC and the Metropolitan Counties.

This book has an enduring relevance as it details the beginning of a process which currently indicates a much-reduced number of local authorities under an executive mayor and a major decline in the number of councillors and arguably far less democracy at a local level as a result.