County councillors have been accused of unnecessary secrecy after blocking a debate about information provided by its financial advisers about investments in Icelandic banks.

Members of a cross-party watchdog committee voted today against discussing in public information provided by financial brokers Butlers about events that led KCC to invest £50million in three Icelandic banks.

They plan to review their decision at a meeting next month and insist everything will be done to publish the written answers Butlers provided to their questions.

The move to block a debate came after Butlers indicated to the council it was unaware the information it provided could be put into the public domain.

Members of KCC’s policy scrutiny committee were told KCC’s most senior legal adviser, county solicitor Geoff Wild, believed there was no reason why they could not discuss the information in public.

But despite that assurance, Labour and Conservative members of the committee voted to block any debate.

Opposition Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Trudy Dean was the only councillor to oppose the move, saying it was illogical.

"I do not see any logic in this. If we wished to do so, we could discuss this in public. We are looking at a situation the public is concerned about. I cannot see any reason why the answers to [our] questions should not be published," she said.

Policy scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Mike Eddy (Lab) said Butlershad asked for the information to be kept confidential. "The cautious approach is the right approach. It will also give us more opportunity to look at the information they have provided."