Plans for another huge 10pc council tax hike in Birmingham met with anger

The crisis-hit authority passed an alarming budget last year, which included a raft of cuts to services and a council tax increase of 9.99 per cent.

A council report, published this month, provided an update on the council’s financial challenges and acknowledged ‘savings’ of £153 million were needed for the 2025/26 budget.

The detailed budget will be revealed in the coming weeks but savings could impact areas such as adult social care, children’s services and city operations.

The Labour-run council also plans to increase council tax by 9.99 per cent again for the 2025/26 financial year.

Discussing the council’s medium-term financial plan covered in the report, council leader John Cotton said “significant progress” had been made on getting the authority back on track.

“The progress of the last 12 months will be maintained and the savings for 2025/26 will be backed by detailed and credible delivery plans that have undergone rigorous due diligence,” he told a cabinet meeting today, January 21.

“I know the commissioners have also rightly recognised the hard work that’s been undertaken by colleagues in finance in recent months and I would like to echo those sentiments as well.”

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But opposition councillors were alarmed by the update on the authority’s finances.

Robert Alden, leader of the Conservatives at the council, argued there had been a “total lack of progress” around modernisation and efficiency savings.

He said Brummies now faced “another double whammy” due to the possibility of “paying higher council tax for fewer services in the year ahead”.

Conservative councillor Richard Parkin (Sutton Reddicap) also reacted to the financial update this month, saying the news “has been nothing short of disastrous, even by their [Birmingham City Council’s] low standards.”

“There needs to be an urgent and comprehensive public enquiry into what has happened at BCC,” he wrote.

“It needs to identify who was responsible for the financial disaster which is still unfolding in Birmingham.”

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Roger Harmer, leader of the Liberal Democrats at the council, slammed the council’s Labour administration, saying: “The truth is this is being done on the back of a much dirtier city with savagely-cut services.”

He said he feared further cuts and said: “I can’t be the only councillor that’s really noticed a change in the tone of emails I get from residents really, really concerned about the state of the city.

“It’s only going to get worse.”

Coun Karen McCarthy, the cabinet member for finance, acknowledged there was still “a lot to do” when it came to the council’s recovery and said everything possible had been done to protect critical services.

“Modernisation and transformation processes are proceeding across the board,” she added.

On the proposed second council tax rise of just under ten per cent, she said: “The opposition really can’t have it both ways at once.

“You can’t have made hay with that figure for a year and then act surprised when that’s what appears in the report.

“We have now a government at national level that understands local government,” she continued.

“They’re not in the position to come riding over the hill with a sack of gold to sort out all our problems but at least now we’re having healthy conversations with them about the support that can be provided.”

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Coun Rob Pocock, the cabinet member overseeing the council’s transformation, added it was “far too early to say we’re finally out of the woods”.

“Another tough budget has to be agreed and delivered,” he said. “Much remains to be done.”

Coun Cotton also told the meeting the council’s administration was “working through the implications” of the provisional local government settlement to ensure it made the “best possible use of those additional resources”.

The council passed last year’s unprecedented budget amid issues including Birmingham-specific factors, such as an equal pay fiasco and the disastrous implementation of a new IT and finance system, as well as the rising demand for services and funding cuts.

The political blame game has seen figures such as Coun Cotton pointing the finger at the previous Conservative government while Tory politicians have highlighted the mistakes made by the council’s Labour administration.