Birmingham City Council to cut £300MILLION out of local services but raises council tax by 21 per cent in shocking move

Birmingham City Council has approved enormous budget cuts and announced plans to hike council tax by 21 per cent over the next two years.

Councillors opted to bring in the austerity measures alongside cuts of £300million.

Unite, the UK’s second largest trade union, described the move as “devastating for Birmingham council’s workers and the entire city”.

Birmingham City Council made the cuts after effectively declaring bankruptcy last year.

The local authority also received a £760million bill to settle equal pay claims.

Town hall officials issued a Section 114 notice in September as they confirmed all new spending, with the exception of protecting vulnerable people and statutory services, must stop immediately.

Unite’s national officer for local authorities Clare Keogh said: “Vital public services are on the brink of being all but destroyed.

“This is the culmination of years and years of brutal budget reductions by central government.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Birmingham residents speak to GB News’ Jack Carson about council cuts: ‘Ridiculous!’Birmingham residents rage at ‘ridiculous’ swathe of cuts by Labour-run council
Birmingham set to SLASH bin collections and DIM streetlights in bankrupt council’s emergency plan

“Birmingham council’s workers, who have already suffered well over a decade of falling wages and whose efforts have ensured increasingly depleted services functioned, must not pay the price for a crisis they didn’t create.”

Birmingham City Council, which is run by the Labour Party, is the largest local authority in Europe.

Leader John Cotton also apologised “unreservedly” to people living in Birmingham during a full meeting on Tuesday.

The crunch vote on how to deal with the situation rsulted in 53 councillors voting in favour and just three voting against.

Cllr Cotton said: “The mistakes made in Birmingham have not occurred in a vacuum and councils are facing a perfect storm of smaller budgets but higher costs.”

Tory leader Robert Alden added: “It’s a budget that shows just how badly Birmingham Labour have made a mess of the council’s finances.”

Around 200 protesters assembled outside the Council House to demonstrate against the cuts.

The council tax hike will see the levy increase from 10 per cent to 21 per cent by April 2025.