London mayor Ken Livingstone has been heavily criticised for appointing six of his special advisors to a "policy integration and service delivery unit", at a salary of £100,000 per year.

All but one will be accountable to the Mayor's office, rather than Anthony Meyer, the senior civil servant in the GLA.

Leader of the Labour group in London, Toby Harris, said it was "equivilant of making Jo Moore the permanent secretary of a government department."