'Let Mayor return to Labour'

Labour should forgive Ken Livingstone and welcome him back into the fold, according to the party's top figures in the London Assembly.

Six of Mr Livingstone's closest colleagues at the London Assembly - including group leader Toby Harris and deputy mayor Nicky Gavron - have written an open letter to The Guardian newspaper urging that the Mayor be readmitted to the party from which he exiled himself two years ago.

Mr Livingstone was banned for five years after he stood as an independent against the official Labour candidate in the first mayoral election. Although Labour is split over the issue, the prevailing viewis that Mr Livingstone should not be allowed back.

It is expected that when the National Executive Committee meets on 23 July to launch the process to select Labour's official candidate for the next mayoral contest in 2004, Mr Livingstone's name will not be on the list.

However, Mr Livingstone's supporters in the London Assembly believe the Mayor should be shown leniency and his ban quashed. The letter was written in response to an article in the same paper by Roy Hattersley, entitled "Livingstone must serve his sentence".

In the letter the six write: "As Labour Assembly members, we backed Frank Dobson and stood with him in the London elections two years ago. Having observed Ken Livingstone's mayoralty at close hand we are clear that, while we have had our differences with him over the last two years, he is pursuing policies consistent with Labour values.

"Labour has a job to do in London which requires a united London Labour Party machine and a focus on preventing a rival. If Labour does not perform to its maximum strength in the Greater London Authority elections, this will not only have a detrimental effect on that campaign, but also on the work that is done in preparation for the general election."

The six claim Mr Livingstone's readmission is widely supported among constituency Labour party members and that most trade unions back him. The letter is unlikely to carry much weight with John Prescott, Gordon Brown and party chairman Charles Clarke. Tony Blair's position is less certain.