05 March 2024 , 20:18
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Angry protestors chanted "stop the cuts" as services were brutally slashed at cash-strapped Birmingham City Council.
Furious demonstrators voiced their horror as a 9.99% council tax hike and £300million of cuts were waved through. Councillors heard people in the city face a "double whammy of higher taxes and fewer services".
In two years time council tax bills will be 21% higher after another sharp rise in 2025/26, while bin collections, school transport, youth clubs, libraries and road maintenance are among the casualties. Meanwhile all arts funding will be axed by 2025.
Demonstrators voiced their fury in Birmingham (Morten Watkins / SWNS)It comes after the council declared itself effectively bankrupt in September last year. Failure to pass the budget would have seen commissioners appointed by the Government take over the council.
Council leader John Cotton, Labour, apologised to the people of Birmingham for the "unprecedented". He said: "It is not a budget I ever envisaged for our city. Sadly however, it is a budget that reflects the significant challenges currently facing this council.
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"Because the harsh reality is we must make cuts of over £300 million over the next two financial years in order to receive exceptional financial support from Government and to meet the challenge set by commissioners."
Tory Conservative group leader Robert Alden said leaders had "bankrupted the council" and said it would have a devastating impact on residents. He said: "They will see parks no longer maintained, streets no longer cleaned, dumped waste not enforced, broken streetlights not repaired."
Saying the council's finances had been "smashed on the rocks" of a failed IT system roll-out, as the council ignored warnings about equal play claims, Mr Alden said: "For Brummies, the council is running out of time to fix its finances before all services loved by our city are lost."
The council, which has already paid out £1.1billion in equal pay claims, said in June that it owed a further £760million with the bill rising by up to £14million each month. The pay dispute was brought by women who worked at the council and received a basic salary without bonuses.
Men who received the same pay in jobs such as rubbish collectors and street cleaners did receive bonuses.