Bradford Council has no excuse for not publishing details of its spending in the same way other local authorities are doing, the Government has warned.

New rules requiring local authorities to release details of all purchases in excess of £500 – so the public can see where their money is being spent – come into force at the end of the month.

But, as reported in the Telegraph & Argus yesterday, Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood has said he will not be publishing the data until all commercially-sensitive material is removed.

Today Mr Pickles has published a list of councils failing to upload details of their spending with only a week until the deadline.

A source close to Mr Pickles told the T&A: “It is astonishing that Bradford Council say they are not going to do this.

“They have had since June to get organised about this. It begs the question what have they got to hide.

“There will be legal ramifications facing councils who do not do this. We can use Statutory Instruments to make them do it.”

Mr Pickles said: “The final countdown for councils has begun. In the last six months more than half of all councils have got their house in order. Today I’m putting those councils still to open up on one weeks’ notice.”

Councils are expected to put details of senior pay, councillor expenses, tenders and contracts, meetings, and frontline service data into the open so that ‘armchair auditors’ can clearly see the decisions being made on their behalf by the council in due course.