For the first twelve years after the county was created in 1974, the county had a two-tier system of local government, and the metropolitan borough councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. However in 1986, along with the five other metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council, the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished, and most of its powers were devolved to the boroughs, which effectively became unitary authorities.

Local governance in Greater Manchester is currently provided by the councils of ten districts, known as metropolitan boroughs, these are: Bolton, Bury, the City of Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, the City of Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.

Each Metropolitan Borough comprises a large town (usually having formed a county borough before 1974) together with the surrounding smaller towns, villages and countryside. Most of the names are self explanatory, for example the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is centred on the town of Stockport, though includes other smaller towns, such as Cheadle, Gatley, and Bramhall.

Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county with its own Lord-Lieutenant. The Local Government Act 1972 provided that the whole of the area to be covered by the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester would also be included in the Duchy of Lancaster - extending the duchy to include areas which were formerly in the counties of Cheshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. Thus, the Lord-Lieutenant and High Sherriff of Greater Manchester are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster rather than, as is more usual, the recommendation of The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.[citation needed]

The first Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester was Sir William Downward who held the title from 1974 through to 1987. The current Lord Lieutenant is Colonel Sir John Bradford Timmins.

Greater Manchester is divided into 28 Parliamentary constituencies - 18 Borough constituencies and 10 County constituencies.

Most of Greater Manchester is controlled by the Labour party, and is generally considered a Labour stronghold.

As a geographic county, Greater Manchester is utilised by the government (via the Office for National Statistics) for the gathering of county-wide statistics, and organising and collating general register and census material.