A GOVERNMENT inspector who investigated Wirral’s proposed library closures let a town hall lawyer decide who was given a “preview” of her top-secret report.

Sue Charteris was appointed by the former Culture Secretary Andy Burnham to look at Wirral Council’s plan to shut 11 of its 24 libraries.

Ms Charteris’s draft report was sent to the council for comments and fact-checking before being given to the new Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw so he could decide whether the closures met with the council’s obligations under the Libraries Act.

But the council has come under fire from Conservative councillors for only allowing five Labour and Liberal Democrat cabinet members to see the report, along with nine senior council officers.

Soon afterwards, the council’s Labour and Lib-Dem leadership revoked their plans, saying the inquiry process had taken too long and they had now missed the opportunity to fund the neighbourhood centres, which they wanted the replace the libraries with.

With only a handful of politicians having seen Ms Charteris’s report, the Tories claimed the decision was forced on the council after they became aware of its contents.

But Cllr Foulkes said he was under a binding legal agreement not to disclose the contents of the draft report to anyone beyond the select group chosen by borough solicitor Bill Norman.

He added: “I can promise the contents of the report were not the reason for the change of heart.It was the fact the length of time this was taking was not making it possible for us to bring neighbourhood centres on line, so we have gone back to square one.”

The council’s decision came shortly before Mr Bradshaw was expected to release the report, along with his own final decision on the libraries issue.

In her letter to Mr Norman, Ms Charteris said she had enclosed two numbered copies of the report which were “not for circulation beyond the people who you will be obtaining comments from”.