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Liverpool politicians are poised for government commissioners to intervene in city council to an unprecedented measure following allegations of corruption.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick is expected to make a statement Wednesday in response to a report from inspectors investigating whether the council has provided the best taxpayer value. The report was ordered after the arrests of five men, including Labor Mayor Joe Anderson, last December.
Anderson was arrested as part of Merseyside Police Operation Aloft, an ongoing investigation into construction and development contracts in Liverpool that led to the arrest of 12 people. Deny all wrongdoing.
Sources who have been briefed on the report said they expected commissioners to be dispatched to help run the council along with CEO Tony Reeves, who would remain in overall control.
This would be a step down from the nuclear option, in which the central government would take full control of the council, but Jenrick could decide that the most energetic intervention is necessary.
Any decision to intervene in the running of one of the UK’s largest cities would be unprecedented in modern times, although commissioners have been sent to head three smaller councils in the last 25 years.
Reeves has warned councilors that the report, which is believed to be about 70 pages long, and its repercussions will likely be “very painful.”
Reeves, who joined the council to oversee the change in 2018, told councilors Monday night that the report “will likely make it difficult to read” and that they “need to remain resilient.”
It announced that Nick Kavanagh, the council’s director of regeneration, who was arrested in December 2019 along with developer Elliot Lawless, was no longer employed by the local authority.
Kavanagh said Tuesday that he intended to “clear my name on appeal or in court.”
The emergency inspection was led by Max Caller, a local government consultant who conducted a similar report on Northamptonshire County Council in 2015, which resulted in the appointment of commissioners to oversee the authority after financial mismanagement.
At a sobering time for the city, Liverpool residents are waiting to see how the local government secretary will interpret Caller’s recommendations. Government-appointed commissioners have spoken on councils only four times in the past, and never in a city the size of Liverpool.
Jenrick could announce commissioners to take full control of the council’s day-to-day decision-making, including setting budgets. This move, described by one councilor as “political dynamite”, would send shockwaves through Merseyside, a region that sends 14 Labor MPs to Westminster.
Other possible options include appointing commissioners to oversee specific aspects of the council under scrutiny, such as regeneration or a more “hands-off” oversight role. Commissioners could be in place for years.
Richard Kemp, the leader of the Liverpool Democrats on the council, said it was an “absolutely critical” week for the city. If we screw it up now, we’ll be doomed for a long time. Our reputation as a city council is in tatters and our reputation as a city will sink because of that. “
The decision will overshadow the May local elections, due to the election of a city mayor, local councilors and a metro mayor for the Liverpool city region. Labor party members in the city are voting to decide the party’s mayoral candidate, which is expected to be announced next week. The previous previous list was removed in what a local MP described as “a shit show.”
One council member said that Labor NEC had “taken its time to become aware of the situation on the ground in Liverpool with the police investigation and government inspection.”
Stephen Yip, a former Labor Party member running as an independent candidate in the city’s mayoral elections, said it was an opportunity to lift Liverpool “out of the darkness and into the light.” The head of the children’s charity says he has won the support of Labor members and even councilors who had pledged to present themselves as independent. He welcomed the intervention that would lead to greater transparency, accountability and honesty, but warned that the central government that comes “with all arms” to take control was not what the city needed.
