The creation of the LCC in 1889, as part of the Local Government Act 1888, was forced by a succession of scandals involving the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW), its predecessor, which had not been directly elected. While the Conservative government of the day would have preferred not to create a single body covering the whole of London, their election promise to the Liberal Unionists led them to this policy. A later Government created the 28 metropolitan boroughs as lower tier authorities to replace the various local authorities in 1899; they assumed some powers of the LCC and shared others.