Members of Birmingham City Council have failed to reach agreement at the authority’s annual budget meeting, where the Labour administration had hoped to pass the council’s first balanced budget in three years.
Earlier this month, the council published proposals for a balanced revenue budget in 2026/27. Council leader John Cotton said the troubled council was ‘back on track’ and declared ‘the “bankrupt Birmingham” tag’ was now a thing of the past.
However, the council on Tuesday failed to pass the budget and was forced to schedule a replacement session for 11 March – the Government’s legal deadline for setting a balanced budget.
The inability to approve the budget prompted criticism from opposition councillors. Conservative group leader Cllr Robert Alden told the BBC the city ‘deserves better than a failing administration that can't even get its own budget over the line’.
Cllr Roger Harmer, leader of the Birmingham Liberal Democrat Council Group, said Labour is now ‘clearly lacking the confidence to put its budget to the vote.’
A spokesperson for the Labour administration said councillors are ‘determined to pass a budget that puts the council back on track’.
