Labour councillors took to their broomstick to protest over cuts to street cleaning and other services, introduced by Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman.

The Tower Hamlets Labour councillors also donned yellow waist coats as they launched their campaign for cleaner streets last Saturday.

Along with activists they helped clean up Poplar, Brick Lane and Bow in an attempt to highlight the impact of Mr Rahman’s reduction in street cleaning from three to two days.

They are protesting over the introduction of a �15 charge to previously free waste collections, along with charges of up to �108 per pest control visit.

Their environment spokesperson, Cllr Shiria Khatun, said it was especially important that streets are clean for the arrival of the Olympic torch.

“With the Mayor unable or unwilling to clean up our borough in advance of this great Olympic celebration, we have been out with communities demonstrating our positive, can do approach.

“The Mayor’s cuts will leave our borough dirtier and present genuine public health risks.

“Choosing to introduce charges at a time people are already struggling with their household budgets, and when Tower Hamlets faces the worst pest problems in the country stinks of short sighted money grabbing and must be reversed.”

The councillors also organised litter collection drives across some of the borough’s wards and urged residents to sign up to their petition.