THE total cost of protecting the identities of two Bolton councillors who failed to pay council tax on time has been revealed to be close to £8,000.

The council responded to a Freedom of Information request from Bolton Liberal Democrat chairman Kevin Walsh, which asked for details of the full amount that fighting to keep the names of the councillors anonymous has cost the authority.

The request relates to an original Freedom of Information request submitted by reporter Dale Haslam in 2012, which revealed that two councillors had been summonsed to court over failure to pay council tax on time.

The Bolton News continued to fight to have the identities of the councillors revealed and in 2014, Tory Cllr Mudasir Dean came forward to admit he was one of them.

The Labour councillor involved — Ismail Ibrahim — remained unidentified until last month when a top tribunal judge overturned a decision to allow his name to be revealed.

Council leader Cliff Morris had already responded to questions about the cost of representing Cllr Ismail at the hearing, saying the council spent £3,660 on legal representation.

The latest FOI results also detail the added costs spent by the authority during the saga.

The data shows that on top of the £3660 in legal fees, the council spent £3907.78 on internal legal services work and a further £271.64 on travel and subsistence.

Cllr Morris has already confirmed that Cllr Ibrahim will be paying back the £3,660 spent representing his case — but pointed out that the internal costs were spent on behalf of both implicated councillors.

He said: “That money was not just spent on Cllr Ibrahim but on Cllr Dean as well — we need to be fair about this.

“This shows how much it costs to deal with Freedom of Information requests and this is something that by law we have to do and that is fine.

“These things don’t come for free but I have no problem with that.”

He added: “I hope that this issue can now be put to bed.”

Mr Walsh said he believes the council have been “economical with the truth”.

He said: "To spend £3,000 of tax payer’s money on protecting the identity of the Labour councillor who failed to pay their council tax on time is unacceptable.

“To find out that the total cost to the taxpayer is over twice as much is an absolute disgrace.

“How can residents trust a council that are so unforthcoming with the facts?

"The people of Bolton deserve a council that is open, honest and accountable not one that looks after themselves."

Kevin Walsh is standing for the Liberal Democrats in the Harper Green ward at the upcoming local elections.

Also contesting the seat is Michelle Broderick (Green), David Harvey (UKIP), Champak Mistry (Labour) and Robert Tyler (Conservative).