Government to decide whether to take over day-to-day running of Liverpool City Council

• Report by Jennifer Buck.

The government will shortly decide on whether to take over the day-to-day running of Liverpool City Council after corruption allegations, according to a report by the Telegraph.

Last year Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick ordered an investigation into how the council is being run after a police investigation and a number of arrests.

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson was arrested alongside four other men in December in connection with offences of bribery and witness intimidation. He's not been charged and maintains his innocence. However, he's since stepped aside from his duties.

Mr Jenrick's report has now been completed, and the government are due to respond in the next few days.

Liverpool Council say they're unable to comment until the report has been published.

The report includes a detailed looks at the authority's planning, highways, regeneration and property management functions.

Mr Jenrick is expected to announce his decision this week after looking at the report, but he says that If it shows the council is in breach of its best value duty he will consider exercise the 'powers of intervention'.

That means the government can step in and manage the day-to-day running of the council.

It'd be a dramatic move, with the government having never stepped in, in a city the size of Liverpool.