The Labour Party paid for lawyers on behalf of councillors named in the Liverpool Echo's parking fines investigation, it has been confirmed.
Letters sent from a London-based law firm on behalf of a number of Labour councillors named in the ECHO's 16-month parking investigation show how attempts were made to challenge elements of the information we requested being published before it was finally released to us. Labour have insisted the involvement of lawyers was not to stop the overall release of the information.
It is understood the lawyers were representing current Labour councillors named in our investigation including Cllr Ann O'Byrne, Barry Kushner, Gerard Woodhouse, Nick Small, Lynnie Hinnigan, Joe Hanson, Sharon Connor and Wendy Simon.
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The eight councillors were part of a group of 14 current or former elected members named by the ECHO after our 16-month Freedom of Information fight, which the council's current chief executive said exposed an "unacceptable culture" where councillors were routinely having fines cancelled by officers without going through the proper formal processes.
In its response to our Freedom of Information requests, Liverpool City Council said it could not find records of why any of the named elected members had parking fines cancelled, suggesting the proper processes had not been followed.
Since our investigation was published, former deputy mayor of Liverpool Cllr Ann O'Byrne, who was found to have had 17 fines rescinded between 2015 and 2020 has announced she will step down from the council. Former cabinet member Cllr Barry Kushner - who had 7 tickets cancelled - has been blocked from standing for Labour again.
Cllr Anna Rothery, a former Labour councillor who quit to join the community independents last year - has been suspended by her group after she was found to have one ticket cancelled. Cllr Joanne Calvert resigned from the new independent group after she was revealed to have three tickets scrapped.
It is understood that the role officers allegedly played in the cancellation of parking fines was a particular point of contention for the councillors named.
Liverpool's opposition leader Cllr Richard Kemp said the fact some councillors involved in the investigation had solicitors trying to defend their positions shows that they realised the severity of the situation they were in.
He added: "If they had apologised and offered to pay the fines when it became apparent 18 months ago that they had dodged paying fines that were due, they might have got away with it. By trying to hide things it has cost them a lot of money to solicitors and in the case of two of them their position and the council and the rest have had their reputation rightly dragged through the mud. The old saying applies, "If you are in a hole stop digging".
A Labour party spokesman said: “There has never been any attempt by councillors to prevent the disclosure of the parking ticket information. They stand by their explanation that they were advised by council officers to hand in tickets that had been accrued in the course of their public duties.
“There was some discussion about the precise format of the information that was going to be released and rather than have multiple councillors make representations to the council, a solicitor, paid for by the Labour party, supported them in providing the extra information the council was requesting.”
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