The Labour government's modernisation agenda was set out in a series of consultation documents and Green Papers before being incorporated in a series of Bills – all but one of which, at the time of writing, has passed into the statute book.

2000 Representation of the People Act

The government has already moved to reform electoral practices and maximise voter registration by maintaining rolling registers, encouraging participation in elections and improving access for people with disabilities under the 2000 Representation of the People Act. Local authorities are permitted to experiment in electoral practice, including electronic voting, mobile polling stations, voting at different hours, on different days, or over a number of days; holding elections entirely by postal vote.

2000 Greater London Authority Act

The 2000 Greater London Authority Act establishes, for the first time, the office of executive mayor for Greater London which, together with a Greater London Assembly, constitutes the new Greater London Authority (GLA). This body covers the same area as the former Greater London Council, but has differently constituted powers. Its establishment marks a new beginning for London government, after a period of 14 years in which there has been no overall strategic authority. Elected with a manifesto commitment to establish such a body after first holding a referendum, New Labour acted swiftly to ensure that the new bodies would assume their powers within three years of the government taking office.

Under the 2000 Greater London Authority Act, the elections for the mayor and the Greater London Assembly took place in May 2000, and the mayor and Assembly members took office on 3 July. Ken Livingstone, running as an independent candidate, secured a convincing victory in the mayoral election, while no party secured an overall majority in the Assembly.

1999 Local Government Bill

The consultation paper, Local leadership, local choice (DETR, 1999), presented the government's proposals on new executive arrangements for local government in the form of Part I of the draft Local Government (Organisation and Standards) Bill. The draft bill was scrutinised by a Joint Select Committee, which expressed doubt about the proposed separation of executive and scrutiny roles. The Committee highlighted the extent of ministers’ powers to determine the important matters by regulation, and expressed concern at the lack of criteria for their application.