Liverpool council meets amid row over energy bill mistake which is costing tax payers millions

Liverpool Councilors will gather for an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening after a 'calamitous' mistake left council tax payers in Liverpool with an energy bill running into millions of pounds.

The council, unlike many householders failed to switch to a fixed tariff in March, when Scottish Power stopped supplying commercial customers, forcing the authority to take on an expensive variable deal - at the whim of soaring costs.

It's led to anger among tax payers in the city.

On Wednesday evening, the council is set to come together for an emergency meeting.

Liverpool's Mayor Joanne Anderson has already revealed plans to remove Councillor Jane Corbett from the Chief Finance Officer role and take over the budget herself.But opposition councillors question whether the Mayor - who's been bankrupt twice in her own personal finances - should oversee the council's budget of 1 billion pounds.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Richard Kemp said: "The Mayor putting herself in charge of the Council's finances is like a fox taking charge of the chicken coop given her spectacular lack of success in her two failed businesses."

Responding to criticism from Lib Deb Liverpool Leader Richard Kemp on twitter, Mayor Anderson said: "I have never failed a business Richard, struggling to keep things together as a single parent and professional incompetence are two very different things. Being poor is not something I think you understand."

The Mayor has said she will appoint an external advisor with finance experience to support her in drawing up the budget.

Deputy Mayor and Councillor Jane Corbett, who's taken the fall for the disastrous energy deal, wouldn't be drawn on speaking about what went wrong, instead pointing to two ongoing investigations into the situation.

She said: "Both of those reports will be made public, so everybody will be able to see those, because it's really important we show best value, we need to show we know what we're doing and we've learned those lessons."

Tonight's meeting will decide if the council can go ahead to try to get a fixed energy deal from July.