The creation of the legislature gave some limited autonomy, with seven members of the Legislative Council being elected from the 1950s on.
The legislature sat at the Legislative Council Building at John Mackintosh Square.
There was a turnout of 58.2 per cent, and the winners were Joshua Hassan, Abraham Serfaty, J. E. Alcantara, and Albert Risso, all of the Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights, two Independents, Solomon Seruya and Peter Isola, and one Commonwealth Party candidate, Joseph Triay.
With pressure from the United Nations, the British government merged the Legislative Council and City Council to a House of Assembly to give Gibraltar domestic powers to deal with its own affairs whilst diluting the Governor's powers.
[3] The head of the legislature was initially Governor as President and then replaced by the Speaker, a member of the legislative council.