At this months Full Council meeting, Birmingham Local Conservatives called on the City Council Administration to scrap their 'toxic culture'. The Council needs to ensure its actions match its words with regard to honesty and transparency, following a number of concerns in recent months from external auditors. In a motion to Full Council debated on the 5th of December 2023, Councillors Alex Yip (Con, Sutton Wylde Green) and Meirion Jenkins (Con, Sutton Mere Green) highlighted a number of areas where there may be a public perception that the Labour Administration’s statements and actions fall short of the Leader’s promise to be open, transparent and honest. This includes comments from the Leader that he was ‘equally surprised’ to learn of the equal pay liability on becoming leader, despite it now being shown that an email was sent to him months earlier, setting out the scale of the issue. The Motion called on the Executive to ensure it meets its own promises on transparency, as well as asking the Standards Committee to consider appropriate sanctions for any councillor found to have knowingly misled councillors and the public about the devasting Equal Pay and Oracle Crisis that has engulfed the City this year.
Speaking before the debate, Cllr Yip said:
“Honesty, openness and transparency are the cornerstones of a healthy democracy because residents deserve to know what has happened, what their elected representatives are doing, and how their taxes are being spent. Sadly, in Birmingham, we have seen all too often a culture of secrecy, of sweeping problems under the carpet, and moving on without understanding what has happened and seeing genuine accountability on those responsible. Residents deserve nothing less. The Leader of the Council has repeatedly promised to be open and honest but already on important issues such as when he first learned about the Equal Pay crisis, we have already seen obfuscation and misdirection. Our motion is not about raking over issues of the past, but about the city’s desperate need to reset the toxic culture of an organisation that has too often promised to learn lessons only to see those lessons forgotten or ignored - so that our city’s recovery plan has a chance of succeeding.”
Cllr Jenkins said:
“Labour has no regard for transparency, always trying to keep difficult or embarrassing information away from the public – the same public, we should remember, that pay their wages. As an opposition, Birmingham Local Conservatives have continually pushed for greater transparency, knowing daylight is the best disinfectant. However, even as a member of the council’s audit committee, I have found myself being denied access to basic information and even discovered some financial disasters, like the Oracle implementation, from the local press. Our motion repeats previous calls on the Labour Administration to meet its democratic and legal duties to the people it serves, the residents of Birmingham. If there is to ever be any hope of financial competence, it starts with being transparent. ”
Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) Leader of the Opposition Conservative Group, added:
“One of the major issues to have been uncovered at Birmingham City Council in recent years is the toxic culture of the ruling group. If the Council is ever to tackle its financial mess and start delivering better services for residents there must be a seismic change in culture at the Council. The Leader and Cabinet must stop passing blame onto officers and own up to their involvement in this mess so that officers and residents of the City can have their faith restored in the Council. The motion put forward by my colleagues sets out a series of statements, followed by what should be a very uncontentious point of principle. I would therefore hope that it could achieve cross-party support, and indeed if Labour Councillors are willing to put residents ahead of their Party Brand, then it should be voted through with no objections. I am sure the public will be very interested to see if this is indeed the case next Tuesday, and if the Leader’s promises amount to anything beyond mere empty words.”
Despite Labour councillors not being able to identify a single point made in the motion which they disagreed with, Labour councillors voted against the motion, rejecting calls for transparency and accountability.
