Ellie Ames 25 October 2023

Sandwell council should be abolished, MP says

Shaun Bailey MP has called for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to be dismantled.

The Conservative MP for West Bromwich West has set up a petition calling for the Labour-run council to go, and said the areas it serves should be subsumed into neighbouring authorities.

During a levelling up Bill debate, Mr Bailey told the House of Commons: ‘It is time for Sandwell to go, because it has been an embarrassment for the last 50 years.'

Sandwell MBC leader Kerrie Carmichael said: ‘We’re proud that in our recent survey our residents scored us 5% higher than the national benchmark for overall satisfaction levels with the way the council is run.’

Last year, government commissioners launched an intervention at Sandwell after a review found a 'deeply troubling picture of mismanagement'.

This July, commissioners signalled in their third report they were beginning to step back from the council, with a decision due at the end of the year as to whether the intervention can end next March as planned.

#Intervention

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