Robert Jenrick says commissioners will help run Liverpool city council to fix mismanagement – live

The council will respond to [Jenrick’s] letter in detail but we support his intention to appoint commissioners, not at this stage to run the council, as he says, but to advise and support elected representatives in strengthening the council’s systems. This is a measured and appropriate approach.

I want to reassure people in Liverpool that this does not mean government ministers are coming in to run their city directly. This is not, as some would put it, a Tory takeover.

It’s about the government appointing independent people of the highest professional standing to help the council improve as quickly as possible and intervening directly only if the council’s elected leaders fail to implement their own improvement plan.

Given the concerns raised in this report, the general secretary of the Labour party intends to appoint a senior figure to lead a review and reassure the people of Liverpool that the Labour party takes these concerns seriously and will take action against anyone in our ranks who is involved in wrongdoing of any kind.