![A view of Birmingham Council House](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/opinion/2023/09/05/TELEMMGLPICT000202796530_16939336023310_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqRo0U4xU-30oDveS4pXV-Vv4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680)
![A view of Birmingham Council House](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/opinion/2023/09/05/TELEMMGLPICT000202796530_16939336023310_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqRo0U4xU-30oDveS4pXV-Vv4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Sir Keir Starmer might be stretching every sinew to convince voters that Labour can be trusted in government, but his party is apparently determined to prove the opposite. Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Europe, has become the latest Labour-run council to effectively declare bankruptcy. By issuing a Section 114 notice, it has essentially admitted that it is no longer capable of managing its own financial affairs and its spending will be limited to that required to run statutory services.
The council has attempted to justify the move as the inevitable consequence of a massive bill to meet an equal pay claim, after a court found that women working in roles such cleaning missed out on bonuses awarded to men in traditionally male jobs that were judged to be similar.
But that is a poor excuse for an explanation. The city has been plagued by financial mismanagement for years, also wasting millions on a delayed IT upgrade. The city council cannot claim that this is an Act of God that emerged out of nowhere to derail the plans of an otherwise model administration: it is the direct result of its own bad decision-making.
It follows a pattern: in recent years, Labour’s record in local or devolved government has been dreadful. First Minister Mark Drakeford has turned Wales into a laboratory for the worst ideas in politics, introducing a default 20mph speed limit on many roads, overseeing terrible outcomes in the Welsh NHS, and flirting with fads such as a four-day week and a universal basic income. Sadiq Khan has been similarly incompetent in London. Most notoriously, the city’s transport network had to be bailed out by the Government after it found itself in financial difficulties.
A succession of Labour-run councils, meanwhile, has ended up in a similar situation to Birmingham. Labour leaders in local government rarely own up to their mistakes, however, preferring instead to blame “austerity” or other actions taken by the Conservative administration in Westminster.
They have been allowed to get away with it for far too long.
Birmingham is not a poor city and there is no reason why it should not thrive under the right leadership. Sadly, however, it has become another case study in what can happen when the Left is entrusted with power. How does Sir Keir plan to reassure the public now that voting for his party does not mean voting for bankruptcy?
Birmingham is paying the price for Labour rule
Sadly, it has become another case study in what can happen when the Left is entrusted with power