MEMBERS of the Respect party will launch their campaign to have a directly elected mayor for Tower Hamlets tomorrow (Tuesday). Tower Hamlets council is running a consultation to find out whether people want an elected mayor or a council leader appointed b

MEMBERS of the Respect party will launch their campaign to have a directly elected mayor for Tower Hamlets tomorrow (Tuesday).

Tower Hamlets council is running a consultation to find out whether people want an elected mayor or a council leader appointed by other members.

Bethnal Green and Bow MP George Galloway said: "We have had four different leaders of the council in five years, none of them widely known to the voters and none of them elected with reference to the voters of Tower Hamlets.

"They have been selected purely on the basis of machinations inside the Labour Party. Yet these people exercise enormous influence over how almost a billion pounds of taxpayers' money is spent.

"There is no doubt we need strong leadership to address the problems of this borough but this leadership must be directly accountable to the voters. Only a directly elected mayor, as they have in Hackney and Newham, will give us this."

Mr Galloway will be joined by Cllr Abjol Miah, Cllr Dulal Uddin, Cllr Mamun Rashid and Cllr Abdul Munim for the mayoral campaign launch outside the Town Hall at Mulberry Place at 2pm tomorrow (Tuesday).