Taxpayers ‘must not’ foot bill for broke Birmingham – Gove
Michael Gove has seemingly ruled out the possibility of neighbouring taxpayers picking up the bill for Birmingham’s financial mess.
The Levelling Up Secretary said residents in Dudley and Sandwell “must not be on the books” for the city’s “failures”.
He did, however, admit “tough decisions” would need to be made to fix the financial black hole. Government commissioners have been ordered to take over broke Birmingham City Council.
The move could see emergency measures in place for up to five years as the authority battles to deal with its equal pay crisis. Lead commissioner, Max Caller, has a strong reputation for helping broke councils recover.
In Parliament on Tuesday, September 19, Halesowen and Rowley Regis MP James Morris asked Mr Gove if he could provide “reassurance” that neighbouring local authorities, such as Dudley and Sandwell, would avoid “picking up the cost of the failed Labour administration in Birmingham”.
Appearing to confirm there would be no council tax rises in other council areas to bail out the city, Mr Gove replied: “There are real issues in Sandwell as a local authority, which is why we had to intervene there in order to deal with years of mismanagement. But it is also the case that council taxpayers elsewhere in the West Midlands must not be on the books for failures which occurred in Birmingham – although there are tough decisions we’re going to have to take.
“Central Government is prepared to extend additional financial support to the city. But our commissioners, I’m sure, will be confronting the political leadership at Birmingham City Council with difficult decisions. I hope we take them in constructive spirit together.”
Council leader John Cotton welcomed the the Government takeover in Birmingham. He called the measures a “step in the right direction”.
