If I tried to write a fictional story about what has happened in Liverpool, it would be condemned as being impossible and a huge exaggeration. For years we have tried to break into the system but were stonewalled by both politicians and officers who either held information close to their chest or blatantly lied.
16 arrests have been made by the Police of people in or around the Council including the former Elected Mayor, Joe Anderson. Now an inspection team led by an independent former Council Chief Executive, Max Caller, has officially exposed the grotesque practices of Liverpool Council over the past decade.
We continually warned about land transactions, tendering and other areas where there was a clear lack of due process. We continually warned about the lack of proper governance and the failure of the scrutiny process of the Cabinet and Officers. The Caller Report, produced in March vindicated our continued and continuing objections to bad practice and malpractice within the Council.
There can be no doubt where the blame lies for the damage that has been done to Liverpool’s reputation. Liverpool Council still has a Labour Mayor with a cabinet of seven members, all Labour. Liverpool Labour have controlled the Council since 2010 and still have seventy of the eighty Councillors despite us making three gains in May.
No other Council in living memory has seen sixteen arrests and a senior officer being summarily dismissed. Caller and his team found that