Douglas Council leader David Christian has branded a leak that led to a Manx Independent article as ’despicable’.

Headlined ’Meetings in lockdown’, the piece covered the leaked comments of a member of Douglas Council, who criticised the way meetings were being held during the circuit breaker lockdown.

The source argued that local authority members were forced into breaking the law by having to physically hold these meetings in order to set rates and ensure that all decisions were legally binding.

This was because the Department of Infrastructure would not allow local authorities to meet virtually, which led to instances like Braddan Commissioners having to meet in a car park in order to officially vote on their rates.

The Local Government Act stipulates that councillors and commissioners must meet on set dates.

The anonymous local authority member said that because the DoI had ’not bothered’ to update rules to allow virtual meetings, it meant that older or sick council members were unable to attend and that votes were taken with ’far fewer’ people.

The source went on to describe the lack of guidance from the department as a ’huge screwup’, concluding that the situation over lockdown had highlighted how local authorities need to be allowed to have more indepedence from the DoI.

Douglas Council insists that everything it had done during the circuit breaker lockdown was legal and above board.

The outcry from councillors was not so much over what was said, but rather the anonymity aspect.

Mr Christian slammed the nameless councillor, urging them to stand up and be counted, insisting that all elected representatives should put their name to what they say.

Speaking in the chamber in reference to the fact that the source leaked details from a private meeting of the council, Mr Christian said that going forward the incident had cast doubt over whether ’what is said in private will be kept in private’.

Hills ward councillor Carol Crawley called it ’a betrayal of confidence’, whilst Ritchie McNicholl of Murrays ward called for the individual to ’do the right thing and fess up’.

Victoria ward member Ian Clegg agreed that the DOI did not provide adequate support to local authorities until the very last minute, but ’categorically denied’ having spoken to Isle of Man Newspapers, before going on to say that the anonymous councillor ’probably didn’t mean’ to cause such uproar, adding that ’the road to hell is paved with good intentions’.

The ensuing controversy from the anonymous leak has since been described as ’the biggest political Manx whodunnit of 2021’.