Letters page anonymity has been given a vote of confidence by the Press Complaints Commission after it rejected a council complaint against the Hull Daily Mail.

Mail editor John Meehan said he was “pleased but not surprised” that a complaint against the newspaper had been rejected.

East Riding Council members passed a motion calling for the newspaper to be reported to the industry watchdog following the publication of a letter on July 6 which was critical of a leaflet produced by the Labour Party on behalf of its candidate in a recent Beverley by-election.

There had been calls for the Mail to reveal the identity of the author, who asked for their name to be withheld in a letter printed in the newspaper.

The author, named only as a “concerned senior officer”, wrote to protest against what they saw as “petty political point scoring” in a leaflet by a Labour candidate in a Beverley by-election.

The letter criticised the leaflet, calling it “nothing short of spin”, as it claimed only the council’s Labour members had voted against salary increases for senior council officers, including chief executive Darryl Stephenson.

When the Mail’s editor refused to reveal the author’s identity, council members voted to refer the issue to the PCC.

Mr Stephenson accused the Mail of political bias for not releasing the name, and said by printing the letter the Mail had pointed the finger of suspicion at many good, hard-working officers at the council.

John Meehan said: “I’m pleased but not at all surprised the PCC has rejected this complaint. Having agreed to non-disclosure at the time of publication, there was never any question of us revealing the writer’s identity.”

Simon Taylor, East Riding Council’s head of communications and public relations, said: “The PCC has given its ruling, which we must accept and treat that area of the inquiry as closed.”

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