Birmingham City Council fails to pass budget

Labour have failed to pass financial plans that would mean the first balanced budget for Birmingham City Council in three years.

Amid criticism of the leadership of the authority, which has been under the oversight of government commissioners since 2023, a debate at a full council budget-setting meeting ended with no resolution.

After defections and resignations, the Labour majority on the 101-member authority has been diminished. It is also thought some councillors were not in attendance.

A further meeting will be held before 11 March, the date by which the authority is legally obliged to set a budget.

Local Conservatives said they condemned "the utter shambles" at the council.

Conservative opposition leader Robert Alden said: "Birmingham deserves better than a failing administration that can't even get its own budget over the line."

Responding to the Tories' criticisms, a Birmingham Labour spokesperson said it amounted to "yet more grim dog-whistle politics from the Conservatives".

"After a day of talking the city down they are now trying to whip up division," the spokesperson said.

"Only Labour can unite the city and we are determined to pass a budget that puts the council back on track."

Earlier this month, the council declared itself no longer effectively bankrupt.

In budget documents made public ahead of a cabinet meeting, the authority said its financial situation for 2026-27 would be "balanced", with services set for £130m of investment.

Since autumn 2023 and the emergence of a vast financial black hole linked in part to equal pay liability, residents have seen service cuts.

The council has had government commissioners in place to help steer the ship during financial woes that as well as equal pay issues were connected to millions spent on a botched IT system upgrade.

Leader John Cotton has previously said: "Thanks to the decisive tough action we took to get the council back on track, the 'bankrupt Birmingham' tag is now a thing of the past.

"We are back in the mainstream of local government."

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