‘ Yes’ to a directly elected Mayor The Tower Hamlets electorate have voted Yes in a referendum over the borough having a directly elected Mayor. They voted 60,758 in favour against 39,857 against, with a turnout of 62.09%. A poll will be held in October to elect the first executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets. The…
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Yes’ to a directly elected Mayor
The Tower Hamlets electorate have voted Yes in a referendum over the borough having a directly elected Mayor.
They voted 60,758 in favour against 39,857 against, with a turnout of 62.09%. A poll will be held in October to elect the first executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets.
The inelegant phrasing is from the council’s website.
On the plus side it gives us another chance to hear a very fine song with “mayor” in the title.
This is bound to provide George Galloway with a consolation prize
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Don’t anyone think it was funny that all the other parties other than the Respect party did not want a MAYOR and over sixty % of the electorate that voted in person wanted a mayor and there wasn’t a postal vote insight ?
Does anyone else thing that this is strange
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I think it strange that so called socialists support the idea of a major. Historically socialists opposed such offices for the good reason that a single individual running an area is undemocratic.
Rather than supporting calls for a major from petty bourgeois formations socialists ought to demand that more powers be ceded to local government by the imperial parliament. A position that ‘Socialist Resistance’ supports for Scotland and Wales I note.
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Whats so Socialist about this anyway? All pewer in the hands of one person and negates the point of elected and more accontable councillors. Its also Tory party policy and no doubt they also voted for it in Tower Hamlets.
Once again there has been no national dabate in Respect before this camoaign was started by TowerHamlets Respect.
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There’s nothing socialist about it. But then again that’s Respect.
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All pewer in the hands of one person
Kneel in prayer, the people have spoken.
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Would Liam like to reply and justify the position of Socialist resistance from a socialist point of view?
Ignore skidmarx…
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I loved XTC, who could have thought something so beautiful could come from Swindon ?
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neprimerimye – all I did was make a pun about pews. Lighten up.
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Mike, SR does not have a position in favour of mayors.
Many of our members would agree with this article by Andy Richards:
http://liammacuaid.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/the-trouble-with-elected-mayors/
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Forgive me my error but given the nsture of SR as a faction within Respect the populist alliance it is easy to become confused on this issue. Especially when Liam would appear to be boosting the Respect position.
Or is it the case that Liam has a position that differs from SR?
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The posting is lifted directly from the Tower Hamlets website and is an information item. The genesis of the idea inside Respect is a little opaque.
The picture of Springfield’s first citizen is the editorial comment on the subject and I don’t disagree with Andy’s view on it.
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“The genesis of the idea inside Respect is a little opaque”.
So coy, Liam. Most Bengalis I’ve spoken to about it think it’s something to do with the IFE.
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from the council:
The Mayor elected at the October 2010 mayoral election will decide, rather than the Council as at present, how many cabinet members there shall be (subject to the statutory minimum of two and maximum of nine plus the Mayor him/herself) and shall appoint those cabinet members from among the serving councillors and may allocate to each cabinet member a portfolio of responsibilities.
2.7 The Mayor will have power to replace or remove cabinet members and to vary or delete their portfolio responsibilities at any time.
2.8 The Mayor shall appoint a Deputy Mayor from among the cabinet members. The Mayor may replace the Deputy Mayor at any time but otherwise the Deputy Mayor shall remain in post for the duration of the Mayor’s term of office. The Deputy Mayor shall have authority to exercise the Mayor’s powers only in the event that the Mayor is unable to act at any time.
2.9 All executive functions of the Council shall be vested in the Mayor. The Mayor may exercise those functions him/herself, or may delegate specified executive functions to be exercised by the Cabinet meeting, a cabinet committee, an individual cabinet member or an officer. The Mayor may revoke any such delegations at any time.
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In plain language the council will become an advisory body and nothing more. Meanwhile one man will have control of the BUDGET.
That SR remains a faction within a ‘party’ that proposes to abolish any kind of democratic control at a local level is proof of its utter degeneration.
Quit while you have some credibility left.
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Does that also apply to the Labour Party, which came up with this little wheeze in the first place? Eg. GLA, Lewisham, Hackney?
Respect’s position on the mayorality in TH was completely wrong, a sign of decline and desperation, and an attempt to out-manoevre New Labour within their own ethos. But it is somewhat hypocritical for pro-Labour types to denounce SR for opposing this idea from inside Respect while they are touting for Labour – who originated the idea in the first place!
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Yes it would be hypocritical to criticize Socialist Resistance from a pro-Labour point of view. By the way for how long were the forerunner organisations of SR buried within Labour?
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Not quite as long as you, Mike;-)
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Liam redux 
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