In an impassioned speech at the end of the meeting, Mr Moreton described how despite being “paid off” with £45,000 by the council to finally leave his job, this had followed him being bullied, isolated, and put under such stress he became ill and had to be hospitalised. He said: “I regret losing my job, regret that this council made me ill and the appalling stress caused to me and particularly my wife – but I would do it again to prevent such an appalling abuse of power.”

Members of the public gave him a standing ovation.

A call for an investigation by Merseyside Police had been rebuffed after the director of law said there “was no suggestion of criminal activity”.

An internal email read out by Cllr Mountney, which he said referred to the “special charging policy”, talked about their “cover being blown” and acknowledged “unfairness in the system” and then putting the issue to cabinet in “downtime” to get agreement.

The council agreed to send a letter to Mr Moreton from the chief executive to apologise for the way he had been treated. Members called for the report on the charging policy to be completed by the end of October.