City finances a sign of Labour failings

DEAR Editor, The Labour MPs have produced a letter demanding the black hole in Birmingham City Council’s finances is fixed; this is ironic as it has been caused by total mismanagement by the Labour administration costing Birmingham Council taxpayers an extra £78 million.

Only last week the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel commented “there was insufficient understanding and ownership of the council’s 2016/17 budget and a lack of comprehensive and robust delivery plans”.

They went on to say that “the overspend will have to be financed by depleting the council’s organisation transition reserve and, according to the council’s progress report, this will leave a further £78 million of savings required to balance the 2017/18 budget”.

I am on record as saying Birmingham should have a larger grant from the Government, despite having one of the largest in the whole country already, because we are the heartbeat of the country, the engine to the economy and need that money to make the country grow.

However, the council has to start showing that it can actually spend the money it has wisely. Earlier this year the council spent £600,000 on consultants to write a plan that failed to deliver any of the £12 million savings it was meant to this year. Millions are being spent on consultants while vital services like libraries and children’s centres are being put at risk of closure.

Since John Clancy has taken office as leader of the council, his administration has created four additional assistant leader posts on £10,000 apiece; he has appointed a chief of staff and a personal press secretary for tens of thousands and spent millions on consultants that have failed to deliver savings for the council. The council has announced a congestion charge and then denied they will introduce one on at least three occasions.

They have failed to even attempt to save money from things like reduced heating and electric bills yet been happy to push through cuts to children’s centres, libraries and dozens of other frontline services.

This month we have even seen dozens of bin men sacked with only a few days’ notice.

Birmingham cannot afford another 12 months of this Labour administration running up tens of millions in overspends. They even