Cities are at the core of political change. In any society, the ferment of ideas in urban centres will have a major impact on national political life, and the United Kingdom is no exception. Our democracy is built on the local parties and activists who create the bedrock of all political activity – and 2008 will be an important year in Britain’s urban politics.

For a start, there will be a mayoral election in London. In all the other metropolitan districts, one-third of councillors will be up for election, plus one-third in 19 unitary councils including Blackburn, Hartlepool, Hull, Milton Keynes and Thurrock. There will also be contests in 88 shire districts, including a number of large towns such as Bedford, Chester, Ipswich, Lincoln, Norwich and Watford. In Wales, all councils will face a full election.

Thus, all voters in Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sheffield will be eligible to vote in local contests next May. This will be seen as a major test of the national political mood, particularly after the economic jitters that affected Britain during the autumn of 2007.

But the 2008 local elections are more than a glorified opinion poll about the Prime Minister and the leaders of the opposition. The choice of mayor made by voters in London, for example, will influence several key policies. Ken Livingstone, as mayor since 2000, has pursued policies of fast growth fed by international immigration. Huge sums have been spent on the Underground and buses, with dramatic increases in bus ridership. Boris Johnson and Brian Paddick will have to decide if they wish to continue the dash for growth, and also what to do about transport and regeneration investment at a time when there will be no extra resources forthcoming from the Treasury.

With the passage of the Local Transport Bill, the six metropolitan areas will soon gain increased powers over transport, moving them some way towards the model of city-regional government adopted in London since 2000. But, paradoxically, local elections in Birmingham, Manchester and other cities will mostly centre on issues such as schools, crime and the environment. The need to collaborate across local authority boundaries to deliver transport, economic development, and other policies is clear – but is not yet at the heart of local political debate.

While there is often significant agreement between local and national government on urban policy issues, Labour has seen its domination of the cities whittled away in recent years. Manchester and Nottingham are now the only major cities run by Labour with an outright majority, though the party has minority control in Sheffield and Bristol. There are Conservative/Liberal Democrat administrations in Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford. The Liberal Democrats run Liverpool, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and (with a minority administration) Cardiff.

London, meanwhile, remains politically plural. In the 2006 borough elections, the Conservatives won control of 14 boroughs, Labour seven and the Liberal Democrats three, reversing years of Labour domination. Former bastions like Camden and Brent, for example, were among the high-profile casualties. In the 2008 mayoral election Ken Livingstone will face high-profile and competitive opponents, and the voting system used in the capital could yet yield a surprise result. Indeed, it appears likely that the London contest will be the political highlight of 2008.

The regeneration and revival of Britain’s cities has, to a significant extent, been brought about by effective city and city-regional leadership. Following on from the Sub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration (July 2007), there are likely to be significant changes to regional government which will pose challenges for city councils in 2008. In addition, a public spending squeeze seems inevitable. If the progress of recent years is to continue, city leaders will have to become even more creative and competitive.