With the Secretary of State confirming an unprecedented level of intervention in Labour’s crisis-hit Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Local Conservatives have welcomed the support and called on the Labour Administration to finally start acting in the best interest of the city and show the leadership needed to work with commissioners in the best interests of Birmingham residents. The intervention follows the Labour-led council having to declare “effective bankruptcy” as a result of its failings on Equal Pay and the botched implementation of its finance system, with liabilities exceeding £1bn as a result.
Included amongst the Political advisors will be former Labour MP of 18 years, Baron Hutton of Furness, & former Labour Council Leader & Mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs who bring a wealth of experience to help advise on decisions made by the ruling group.
Commissioners will now come to Birmingham from next week to oversee the urgent changes needed to address this liability to prevent further losses and protect essential services. The powers granted to the commissioners exceed anything seen before in local government and reflect the seriousness of the situation and the scale of the failings by Labour, however, it has been made clear that, even now, local leaders will still be in charge, and will be given the chance to show they have learnt the lessons of their mistakes and are capable of putting residents first.
Councillor Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) Leader of the Opposition, & Birmingham Local Conservatives said
“We have been warning the Labour leadership for years that they needed to act to resolve these issues, their failure to do so has cost residents in excess of £1bn and has put services and assets at risk. Sadly, residents will be paying for Labour’s mistakes for years to come, as such it is vital that the impact on them is reduced as much as possible. Labour now have one last chance to show Commissioners that they understand the gravity of the situation they have created and that they are both willing and capable of acting accordingly. That must start with immediately fixing the mess they have created since 2017 and ensure that all staff are paid fairly. Until that situation is resolved, the bill will keep going up and residents will continue to suffer. It is clear from the Secretary of State’s direction that Commissioners have been given the authority to act if Labour continues to refuse to do so, which is an important backstop against Birmingham Labour’s incompetence but one that should not be needed if only Councillor Cotton and his colleagues remove their heads from the sand and put the interests of this city ahead of protecting the Labour Party brand.”
Councillor Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley) Deputy Leader of Birmingham Local Conservatives said:
“Whilst I sincerely hope I am wrong, with the recent behaviour of the Labour leadership, it is hard to escape the conclusion that they are deliberately trying to run the council into the ground so that the commissioners are forced to take over and can be blamed for the fallout from the tough decisions that will need to be taken. This abdication of responsibility is a gross insult to the residents of this city and a reprehensible failure of their moral and civic duties. We hope that the appointment of two very significant figures from the Labour Party, Baron Hutton and John Biggs, alongside the team of commissioners will enable constructive communication and action from the Labour leadership here in the city.”
Editors Notes
Commissioners –
• Max Caller CBE. Max has more than 50 years’ experience in local government and is the former Chief Executive of the London Borough of Hackney and London Borough of Barnet, as well as the former Chair of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.
• John Coughlan CBE. John has significant expertise in local authority governance, is the former Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council and has extensive experience of local government interventions especially in children’s services.
• Chris Tambini. Chris is the former Director of Corporate Resources at Leicestershire County Council, where he has held other roles including Section 151 Officer and Head of Strategic Finance. He was the President of the Society of County Treasurers and also worked at city unitary councils.
• Pam Parkes FCIPD. Pam is the current Executive Director for People and Transformation at Essex County Council, is a FCIPD qualified senior practitioner and was part of the Best Value Inspection Team in Thurrock Council.
• Jackie Belton. Jackie is the Chief Executive of the London Borough of Bexley and the former Executive Director of Operations at the London Borough of Newham.
• Myron Hrycyk. Myron is the Cabinet Office’s Crown Representative for Oracle, IBM and Microsoft. Myron has held prior senior executive roles as Group Chief Information Officer and Chief Procurement Officer at Severn Trent Water and as Chief Information Officer at Yusen Logistics.
Political Advisors –
• Lord John Hutton. John held roles as Defence Secretary and Business Secretary under the previous Labour Government. In 2010 he led a major review of public sector pension provision, and more recently he was appointed Chair of Make UK.
• John Biggs. John is the former Executive Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and held prior roles there as Leader of the Labour Group and Council Leader. He has also served in the London Assembly.
