Galloway calls for directly elected mayor for Tower Hamlets

Published: 7:05 PM October 23, 2009

Updated: 8:14 AM October 14, 2020

GEORGE Galloway and Respect s leader on Tower Hamlets council Abjol Miah handed in a petition with 9,000 signatures at the town hall today to trigger a referendum for a directly elected mayor in East London. The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said a dire

GEORGE Galloway and Respect's leader on Tower Hamlets council Abjol Miah handed in a petition with 9,000 signatures at the town hall today to trigger a referendum for a directly elected mayor in East London.

The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said a directly elected mayor would bring strong leadership to Tower Hamlets.

He said: "We need a directly elected mayor that will be accountable. The buck will stop with the mayor."

He pledged that if Respect won the job the mayor's parlour would be moved to a more central location in Bethnal Green or Whitechapel so it would be more accessible to the public than at Mulberry Place in Blackwall.

"If it's a Respect mayor I will promise in the future that the public will not have to go through a security barrier or take a plane or train to get here."

And he said a Respect mayor would hold weekly press conferences to be "accountable".