Directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets

Mayor of Tower Hamlets
Incumbent John Biggs since 11 June 2015
Style	No courtesy title or style
Appointer	Electorate of Tower Hamlets
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	Luftur Rahman
Formation	May 2010 referendum

The directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets is a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in east London, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough council. The position is different from the previous largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors of Tower Hamlets, who became known as the 'Chair of Council' after the first election and are now known as the 'Speaker of Council'.^[1] The second election was held on 22 May 2014, the same day as the Tower Hamlets Council election, other United Kingdom local elections, and European Parliament elections, but the election result was declared void by the election court. A by-election was held on 11 June 2015.

Referendum

The proposal to change the status of the borough from one with a leader and cabinet to one with an executive mayor was initially opposed by all the main political parties and was an initiative only proposed and supported by the Respect Party. Respect and Islamic Forum Europe organised a petition to trigger a referendum for this change.^[2] Council officers stated that almost half the signatures were invalid, with entire pages bearing the same handwriting. Despite the flaws in the petition, there were sufficient valid signatures for the council to accept it, and a referendum was held on 6 May 2010 simultaneously with the voting in the United Kingdom general election. The referendum was passed after an intensive campaign.^[2]

Mayor of Tower Hamlets Referendum
6 May 2010

Choice	Votes	%
Elected Mayor	60,758	60.3
Cabinet System	39,857	39.7
Total votes	100,615	100.00

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph on 17 October, Andrew Gilligan represented the forthcoming election as the first big test for the recently elected Labour leader Ed Miliband, given the possibility of an independent candidate defeating the official Labour candidate in a strong Labour borough. Gilligan also said that it raised concerns over the political power of radical Islam in the UK, because of candidate Luftur Rahman's connections with Islamic Forum Europe. The latter, along with local business interests which had supported the petition and referendum to have a mayor, prominently backed Rahman's campaign.^[2] Labour's former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, also campaigned in support of Rahman, in breach of Labour Party rules.^[3]

Elections

2010

The first election took place on Thursday 21 October 2010, with a 25.6 per cent turn out.^[4] The new mayor officially took office on Monday 25 October 2010.^[5]

2014

In April 2015, this election was declared void by an election court.^[6]

2015 by-election

After the 2014 election was declared void, a new election was held on 11 June 2015.^{[6][7][9][10]}

Councillor Rabina Khan initially announced that she would stand as the Tower Hamlets First candidate.^[15] However, as a result of findings in the election court case against Luftur Rahman, Tower Hamlets First was removed from the register of political parties by the Electoral Commission as the party was not operating a responsible financial scheme and the running of the party did not follow the documentation given in the party’s registration.^[16][17] Khan subsequently said she would stand as an independent candidate.

Andy Erlam is a writer and film-maker who led the legal action against Rahman which resulted in the previous election being declared void. He previously stood as a Parliamentary candidate for Labour.^[18]

Liberal Democrat Elaine Bagshaw and UKIP candidate Nicholas McQueen both stood for their respective parties in Poplar and Limehouse at the 2015 general election.

List of elected mayors

References

London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Districts	Bethnal Green Blackwall Bow Bow Common Bromley-by-Bow Cambridge Heath Canary Wharf Coldharbour Cubitt Town Globe Town East Smithfield Fish Island Hackney Wick Isle of Dogs Leamouth Limehouse Mile End Millwall Old Ford Poplar Ratcliff St Katharine Docks Shadwell Spitalfields Stepney Tower Hill Wapping Whitechapel
Attractions	Brick Lane Christ Church, Spitalfields Fournier Street Museum of Childhood Museum in Docklands Ragged School Museum St Katharine Docks Tower Bridge Tower of London Traitors' Gate Whitechapel Art Gallery London Olympic Park
Street markets	Petticoat Lane Brick Lane Columbia Road Old Spitalfields Roman Road
Parks and open spaces	Altab Ali Park Bartlett Park Island Gardens Langdon Park Mile End Park Mudchute Tower Hamlets Cemetery Victoria Park
Governance	London borough council Directly elected mayor Civic mayor/speaker of council Constituencies: Bethnal Green and Bow Poplar and Limehouse
Bridges and tunnels	Blackwall Tunnel Greenwich foot tunnel Rotherhithe Tunnel Tower Bridge
Tube and rail stations	Aldgate East All Saints Bethnal Green Bethnal Green Blackwall Bow Church Bow Road Bromley-by-Bow Cambridge Heath Canary Wharf (DLR) Canary Wharf (tube) Crossharbour Devons Road East India Heron Quays Island Gardens Langdon Park Limehouse Mile End Mudchute Poplar Shadwell Shadwell South Quay Stepney Green Tower Gateway Tower Hill Wapping railway station West India Quay Westferry Whitechapel
Other topics	Council Grade I and II* listed buildings People Public art Schools
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