London mayor Ken Livingstone will be asked to stop his alleged support of the Underground drivers' strike at a meeting called by the London Assembly.

The meeting, which will be held at City Hall on Friday, will also ask Mr Livingstone to work towards a solution before further industrial action takes place next Tuesday.

London Underground drivers held a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, throwing the city into chaos.

Although the strike ended on Wednesday night, the network stayed closed until Thursday morning to ensure the service would run normally.

'Urgent matter'

It is estimated the strike cost the economy �60m, as many people took a day's holiday rather than face queuing for packed buses or sitting in gridlocked traffic.

Representatives at Friday's meeting will discuss a motion, put forward by Labour group leader Tony Harris and Labour member John Biggs, which urges Mr Livingstone to stop supporting the action "as a matter of urgency".

Ken Livingstone may not be at meeting

It also calls on the mayor to use his influence to persuade the RMT and Aslef unions and London Underground management to reach a "swift solution" to the pay dispute.

Mr Livingstone opposes government plans to part-privatise the Tube network and he has attracted criticism from Britain's business leaders for backing the drivers.

Trevor Phillips, chair of the London Assembly, said: "For a second week running, the lives of Londoners are set to be disrupted by a Tube strike.

"The immediate task is to really get some urgency into the mayor, the RMT and probably into London Underground management to stop this sort of little boys' squabble.

Resolve dispute

"Politicians should not be interfering in an industrial dispute like this

"But it's evident that most Londoners want the mayor and the assembly to play a practical role in solving this problem."

He added: "(The) meeting aims to ask what can be done in practice and put some practical proposals as to how the mayor can make a difference."

A spokeswoman for Mr Livingstone said he had not directly supported the drivers, but had expressed a desire to see both parties working together to resolve the dispute.

The head of the RMT union Bob Crow is expected to attend the meeting but it is not known if Mr Livingstone will be there.