Labour ‘failed’ to control budget as new cuts revealed Tory criticism as £54m in savings earmarked

BIRMINGHAM’S Labour-run council is imposing more cuts because it has overspent and failed to control the budget, claim Conservatives.

They also accused the council leadership of squandering a £26 million business tax bonus.

The criticism came as council bosses announced they were looking for £54 million savings in 2018/19, of which £14 million will be new cuts, despite a council tax rise of almost five per cent.

Among major savings being planned are efficiencies through a reform of working systems and social care savings through closer working with the NHS to help vulnerable people.

But Conservative leader Robert Alden said the council could have been looking at a growth budget rather than cuts if it had, as promised, delivered those cuts two years ago.

Instead the Labour leadership had overspent by £49 million in 2016/17 and, following the costly bins dispute, had drawn on reserves to balance the budget this year. At the same time an extra £26 million in business rates are being raised and kept by the city instead of going to government next year.

Cllr Alden said: “The council’s own auditors have said that Labour previously failed to set a realistic budget and then failed to deliver that budget.

“This summer’s bin strike laid bare to all residents their inability to run a proper service, spending £6.6 million and rising in a failed attempt to save £5.5 million.

“The budget proposals that are being published are a direct result of that failure as residents are being asked to pay more whilst services are being cut.”

There was also criticism of the decision to use £20 million from the council’s reserves to cover oneoff costs of implementing social care reform and the future operating model. Conservatives claim it is in part because delaying cuts until 2018 local election.

Tory deputy leader and accountant Randal Brew added: “The council is planning to use £20 million of reserves next year, on top of the £40 million they used this year in order to provide short-term relief for their failure to deliver long-term savings.

“That means the savings challenge becomes even more difficult in the future and whoever is elected next May has to address the legacy of six years of Labour failure. The positive side of their use of reserves this year is the delay of introducing fortnightly refuse collections until 2019 means when we take control in May we will be able to cancel their plans and retain a weekly refuse service.”

But the Labour leader Ian Ward accused the Conservatives of being confused over reserves, pointing out that a week ago they argued for the police and crime commissioner to use reserve funds to prop up policing services.

He added that it was the Conservative government which had cut the council funding by £650 million since 2010, putting services at risk.

He also pointed out that a mistake by government had led to councils like Birmingham being short-changed between 2014 and 2016 and if it was corrected the council would not need to make any cuts.

“In fact we would have a growth budget,” he said. the council is after the May

This summer’s bin strike laid bare to all residents their inability to run a proper service Conservative leader Robert Alden, above