Birmingham City councillors agree job-cuts budget

Birmingham councillors have voted to approve savings of £69m in their budget for the next financial year, which could mean losing up to 2,000 jobs.

Members of unions who work for the city council held a vigil outside the council house while the meeting took place and have vowed to fight the cuts.

The council is the largest local authority in the UK, employing 52,000.

It said it hoped to mitigate the job losses by natural wastage, early retirement and voluntary redundancies.

The council has also pledged to protect frontline services, despite the cuts.

The budget-fixing meeting lasted for some five hours.

Among the union members who protested in the snow outside the meeting was the Unison union's General Secretary Dave Prentis, who told BBC News: "We will fight for every job.

"Every redundancy is a personal tragedy."

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