Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

does not currently have an official flag or coat of arms to represent the region. However, the current

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...

and predecessor bodies have historically flown and used many flags and symbols.

London County Council

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

was created in 1889, replacing the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...

. The council was granted a coat of arms in 1914 and flew a banner of these arms over County Hall from 1923 onwards. The arms depicted waves representing the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, the

flag of England The flag of England is the national flag of England, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is derived from Saint George's Cross (heraldic blazon: ''Argent, a cross gules''). The association of the red cross as an emblem of England ...

and a lion to signify London's status as the capital city of England and the United Kingdom and a mural crown. Image:Metropolitan Board of Works.svg, Logo of the

Image:Coat of Arms of London County Council.svg,

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

(1914–1965) Image:LCC Badge.png, Badge of London County Council Image:Flag of the London County Council.svg, Banner of the London County Council (1914–1965)

Greater London Council

London County Council was replaced in 1965 by the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

(GLC), which covered a larger area. The GLC was subsequently granted a coat of arms which contained elements taken from the arms of its predecessor bodies: waves taken from the arms of London County Council and a Saxon crown taken from the arms of

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the cou ...

. The flag of the GLC consisted of its coat of arms displayed on a white field. The common seal of the GLC depicted the coat of arms of the council surrounded by london landmarks and the words "THE COMMON SEAL OF THE GREATER LONDON COUNCIL: 1964". Image:Arms of the Council of Greater London.svg, Coat of arms of the

(1965–86) Image:Badge of Greater London Council.svg, Heraldic badge of the Greater London Council (1965–86) Image:Penning Common seal of the Greater London Council, objectnr PA 3173.12.jpg, Common seal of the Greater London Council Image:Flag of Greater London.svg, Banner of arms of the Greater London Council (1965–86) Image:Flag of the Greater London Council.png, Maritime flag flown on Greater London Council vessels (1965–86)

Greater London Authority

The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 and Greater London remained without a strategic local government body until the

was created in 2000. For the first few months of its existence, the Greater London Authority used a logo depicting a representation of the course of the River Thames against a green disk also containing the name of the authority. This was subsequently replaced by a

wordmark A wordmark or word mark is a text-only statement of the name of a product, service, company, organization, or institution which is used for purposes of identification and branding. A wordmark can be an actual word (e.g., Apple), a made-up term ...

, created by design agency Appetite, consisting of the word LONDON with the letters LOND in blue and ON in red. A flag depicting this logo was flown outside City Hall, the headquarters of the Greater London Authority. The logo was updated to a monochrome colour scheme in 2008 by Boris Johnson, during his tenure as Mayor of London." From 31 January 2020, after

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

(which a majority in Greater London voted against), a flag based on a campaign graphic originally launched in 2016 was flown, the design consisting of a white field charged with the word "LONDON" where the letters "O" in the word are representations of the globe showing different hemispheres and with the legend "EVERYONE WELCOME" in smaller letters below. These flags were all based on logos or were for political campaigns however; none represented an official flag or arms assigned to the Authority. In February 2020,

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...

member and

Deputy Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

Tom Copley proposed a motion calling on the Mayor of London to ask the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

to transfer the arms of the Greater London Council to the Greater London Authority. The motion received unanimous support from assembly members; however, Mayor Sadiq Khan, while supporting the request in principle, asked the assembly to consider costs involved and to reconfirm the decision the following month. The Chair of the London Assembly wears the ceremonial badge of office that was previously worn by the Chairman of the Greater London Council. The badge, which depicts the coat of arms of the Greater London Council and the letters GLC, is made of 18 ct gold with 29 diamonds, four clusters of 8 small pearls and a pendant pearl. The Greater London Authority makes bylaws under its common seal. This is a wafer seal consisting of a disc containing no symbol or insignia surrounded by the words "COMMON SEAL OF THE GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY". Image:Greater London Authority original logo.png, Logo of the

(2000–01) Image:Logo of the Greater London Authority (full colour).png, Logo of the Greater London Authority (2001–2008) Image:Logo of the Greater London Authority (monochrome).png, Logo of the Greater London Authority (2008–present) Image:Flag of the Greater London Authority.svg, Flag flown by the Greater London Authority (2001–2008) Image:Flag of the Greater London Authority (Everyone Welcome).png, Campaign flag flown at City Hall (2020) File:2005-04-09 - United Kingdom - England - London - City Hall and Tower of London - Miscellenaeous 4887791798.jpg, Flags being flown by the Greater London Authority outside

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

in 2005 Image:Mayor of London logo1.svg, Logo used by the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

Image:London Assembly logo.svg, Logo used by the

Image:London Development Agency logo.png, Logo of the

London Development Agency The London Development Agency (LDA) was from July 2000 until 2012 the regional development agency for the Greater London, London region in England. A functional body of the Greater London Authority, its purpose was to drive sustainable economic ...

(abolished in 2012)

References

External links

{{Subnational flags of the United Kingdom

Greater London

London County Council

Greater London Council

Greater London Authority

See also

References

External links