In the 1980s there was a marked increase in the number of hung local authorities or authorities in which there was no clear majority. This book describes the different patterns of hungness and the response of local authorities to the new situation.

Hung councils in context; influences of the hung situation; objectives and strategies; structural budgetary and policy outcomes; procedural outcomes; ways of working and cirumstances and circumstances of change; the lessons to be learnt. Appendices: hung authorities 1980-90; characteristics of the hung authorities visited in the survey; local conventions and working practices in Avon County Council.