Birmingham City Council met for its July Full Council meeting this week. The Council is currently being rocked by a potential £760 Million equal pay claim dating back to 2012, on top of the £100 Million it will cost to fix the Oracle IT system. The Labour Council leader – Cllr John Cotton – claims he was unaware of the growing risk to the council’s services, however, he has been a part of the Labour Administration since 2012, including as Cabinet Member for equalities, which at the time contained the HR brief. In addition, the Labour administration has been repeatedly warned about its growing equal pay liability by opposition groups & unions. Cabinet members have retweeted GMB Union tweets calling for the City Council to resolve its equal pay problems. For Cllr Cotton, and the 80% of the Labour Cabinet who were members of the previous cabinet also, to claim they were unaware of the problem stretches credulity beyond belief.
The motion put forward by the Leader of the opposition & Birmingham Local Conservatives, Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) & Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley) Deputy Leader of Birmingham Local Conservatives, passed with supportive amendments ensuring that the Labour group would be unable to hide from scrutiny. The motion called for an item to be regularly brought forward at full council meetings to discuss and debate the equal pay liability of the City for no less than 1 hour, ensuring the Labour administration could no longer ignore this issue and avoid being held to account.
Cllr Alden said “The idea that Labour was unaware of the mounting equal pay bill they were racking up by ignoring the issue, choosing to focus on promoting their political brand rather than safeguarding the services Brummies rely on, is ridiculous. We warned them this was a risk, their own cabinet members retweeted statements by the unions saying this was a significant risk. Our motion tonight has ensured that they can no longer hide from scrutiny, no longer run from being held accountable. We have said on housing, we have said on Oracle, if they refuse to tell the public the truth then we will make them, & if they won’t address this issue head-on, we will make them.”
Cllr Mackey added “The simple truth is that Labour has been dangerously negligent in choosing to ignore this issue for 11 years. They promised a golden decade but are delivering a decade of pain as the decisions made by this Labour administration will affect the services residents rely on for years to come. Our motion tonight has ensured that future decisions on the council’s equal pay liability will be made public, and not hidden by a Labour party that cares more about its brand than the people of this city. This motion has ensured that there will be openness and transparency going forward and that rather than half-truths and promises of answers later, we will get full answers in council for the first time from this Labour Administration.”
