A councillor is to complain to the Information Commissioner about a Freedom of Information response issued by his own council which he says is “misleading” and a “lie”.

The councillor branded Wirral Council “secretive” after the Wirral Globe newspaper published a response to a Freedom of Information, which he knew to be untrue.

The council then amended their response and issued a statement to the newspaper.

He is sending a report to the Information Commissioner to ask for an external investigation.

The Wirral Globe report:

AN EXTRAORDINARY row has engulfed Wirral Council over its response to a Freedom of Information request which has resulted in a politician accusing the authority of “lying and misleading the public.”

Councillor Chris Blakeley has sent a report to the powerful Information Commission asking it to conduct a full investigation.

The furore centres on the costs of a video commissioned by the council as part of its “What Really Matters” budget cuts consultation questionnaire.

You can read the full story here. 

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.