The state of perpetual change that characterized British local government during the Thatcher/Major years did not end with the election of New Labour in 1997. The Blair administration developed its own "modernization agenda" for local government: democratic renewal, best value services, beacon councils, public-private partnerships, public service agreements and, for the first time in British history, directly elected executive mayors. This completely revised third edition of the text evaluates these changes, as well as the likely impact of broader processes of political and economic change and Labour's second term agenda.