Mathew Street report: it's a secret

The murky background to the pulling of the Mathew Street Festival - and the claims that senior figures knew the event was going to be axed as early as February - is thickening rather than clearing.

Despite having ordered an internal - rather than independent - enquiry, Liverpool council leader Warren Bradley has refused to let anyone see the finished report as he feels an urge to "correct inaccuracies" in it. A version with "corrections" has been published, but now, somewhat grudgingly, council chief executive Colin Hilton has said the original might be opened.

Once.

To Labour opposition leader Joe Anderson.

But only under the sort of conditions usually reserved for rare books in the Bodleian Library:

Colin Hilton has said he is considering letting Labour’s Cllr Anderson read the original document in the presence of town hall finance chief Phil Halsall and standards committee chairman Howard Winik.

In a letter to Cllr Anderson, Mr Hilton said: “I am asking the monitoring officer to consider a facilitated reading of that document on a strictly private and confidential basis.”

What's the point of that? So Anderson can know what the original report said, but not tell anyone?

Bradley should have the courage to publish the original version - with his "corrected inaccuracies" alongside, if he so wishes. It's time Liverpool City Council remembered it's meant to be a democrat body answerable to its citizenry rather than a privately-owned entertainment industry.