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.
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