VALE of White Horse and South Oxfordshire democratic services manager Steven Corrigan is refusing to release information on the woeful handling of May’s council elections because a returning officer’s documents are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

That is true. But our request also covers information held by both councils, which are subject to the Act. He also makes the flawed claim a report into the farce was detailed. The report gives no timeline to discover when councils knew blunders would affect voting.

This is crucial as they issued untrue reassurances days before the election.

Those misleading statements were never recanted and both councils must release information, with their credibility over democracy so at stake.