Birmingham City Council 'effectively bankrupt'

Birmingham City Council 'effectively bankrupt'

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Discussion

rjfp1962

Original Poster:

8,362 posts

80 months

shed driver

2,359 posts

167 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
In before anyone else.

Feckless, woke, public sector non jobs.

In all seriousness, is this country broken? Highest tax take since WW2 and what do we have to show for it?

SD.

Biggy Stardust

7,068 posts

51 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Predictable & fairly guaranteed income yet still overspending. Plenty of vanity projects.

Impressive.

shed driver

2,359 posts

167 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
I think it's due to ongoing liabilities from the equal pay scandal, looking to be in the billions.

SD.

Countdown

42,069 posts

203 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Biggy Stardust said:
Predictable & fairly guaranteed income yet still overspending. Plenty of vanity projects.

Impressive.
Are you as knowledgeable about this as you are about the various other topics you post on?

LA authority budgets have been cut by between 15% and 25% in real terms since 2010. At the same time demand for services has increased. What do you think happens when income falls and expenditure increases?


Gecko1978

10,465 posts

164 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Countdown said:
Biggy Stardust said:
Predictable & fairly guaranteed income yet still overspending. Plenty of vanity projects.

Impressive.
Are you as knowledgeable about this as you are about the various other topics you post on?

LA authority budgets have been cut by between 15% and 25% in real terms since 2010. At the same time demand for services has increased. What do you think happens when income falls and expenditure increases?
Based on the article seems equal.pay was the issue so maybe if they hadn't discriminated for years they wouldn't have had this problem. Easy to blame cuts when your in the wrong

Biggy Stardust

7,068 posts

51 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Countdown said:
Are you as knowledgeable about this as you are about the various other topics you post on?

LA authority budgets have been cut by between 15% and 25% in real terms since 2010. At the same time demand for services has increased. What do you think happens when income falls and expenditure increases?
What I would like to happen is that all the vanity schemes be cut from the program. (They aren't, fyi)

Birmingham council decided to put a huge cycle scheme from Brum centre out to Brum Uni, casuing chaos in the process & costing a few kings' ransoms. It has almost zero use for most of its length- Brum council were the only people who couldn't predict this in advance.

There are plenty of other examples.


Edited by Biggy Stardust on Tuesday 5th September 11:33

LordLoveLength

2,057 posts

137 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
I’m sure that I heard they thought the gender pay gap was sorted and it’s come back to bite them.
I do wonder how they managed to get that so wrong?

In terms of spending though….
Quite happy to spend billions on a tram system to nowhere, not learning lessons from the past when tram systems were removed due to cost and inflexibility.
They could have followed the lead of other cities and introduced trolley buses - cheaper, quieter but no, let’s reinvent the past.
Or a fleet of green energy buses but no, let’s revisit Victorian technology that will result in transport infrastructure failure as soon as a water main bursts or a gas main leaks.

GetCarter

29,637 posts

286 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Not just Brum:

"Earlier this month, the Tory leaders of Kent and Hampshire county councils wrote to the government warning that they faced bankruptcy without more funding".

anonymous-user

61 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
shed driver said:
In before anyone else.

Feckless, woke, public sector non jobs.

In all seriousness, is this country broken? Highest tax take since WW2 and what do we have to show for it?

SD.
Lots of very well off Tory donors, peers and supporters...

boyse7en

7,124 posts

172 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
shed driver said:
In before anyone else.

Feckless, woke, public sector non jobs.

In all seriousness, is this country broken? Highest tax take since WW2 and what do we have to show for it?

SD.
That will be the new "trickle up" economic model.

Bonefish Blues

29,443 posts

230 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Oracle implementation cost/time overrun. Who'd imagine that could happen hehe

Tom8

3,074 posts

161 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Same old labour. Whilst the current government is awful this is a timely reminder of the ineptitude of Labour when in charge of a budget. It always only ever ends in one way.

Carl_Manchester

13,184 posts

269 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
shed driver said:
In all seriousness, is this country broken? Highest tax take since WW2 and what do we have to show for it?

SD.
If you look at the books, there's an awful lot of money sloshing around in Birmingham coffers but if you look at where it's been spent there is an awful lot on welfare and social spending, in some places of Birmingham 45% of people are economically inactive.

Revenues have not been growing and the status quo is not changing anytime soon.

Blaming the teat of central government funding is all well and good to keep the status quo going but one of the reasons it was choked off was to drive change in local government strategy and spending habits.




oyster

12,864 posts

255 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
shed driver said:
In before anyone else.

Feckless, woke, public sector non jobs.

In all seriousness, is this country broken? Highest tax take since WW2 and what do we have to show for it?

SD.
Well my parents and parents-in-law recently got big pension increases. Have got good use of the NHS of late. Have massive equity in their homes.
And don't pay much tax. Oh and their favourite haunt, the local garden centre, stayed open during Covid.

Meanwhile schools were shut, school buildings falling apart and local councils out of cash.

All good though, Saga cruises have six new ships on order for all the demand.

Bonefish Blues

29,443 posts

230 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
oyster said:
Well my parents and parents-in-law recently got big pension increases. Have got good use of the NHS of late. Have massive equity in their homes.
And don't pay much tax. Oh and their favourite haunt, the local garden centre, stayed open during Covid.

Meanwhile schools were shut, school buildings falling apart and local councils out of cash.

All good though, Saga cruises have six new ships on order for all the demand.
hehe

Murph7355

38,930 posts

263 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Bonefish Blues said:
Oracle implementation cost/time overrun. Who'd imagine that could happen hehe
Anyone who's ever been near an Oracle implementation biggrin

Bonefish Blues

29,443 posts

230 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Murph7355 said:
Bonefish Blues said:
Oracle implementation cost/time overrun. Who'd imagine that could happen hehe
Anyone who's ever been near an Oracle implementation biggrin
Pretty much that yes

anonymous-user

61 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
oyster said:
Well my parents and parents-in-law recently got big pension increases. Have got good use of the NHS of late. Have massive equity in their homes.
And don't pay much tax. Oh and their favourite haunt, the local garden centre, stayed open during Covid.

Meanwhile schools were shut, school buildings falling apart and local councils out of cash.

All good though, Saga cruises have six new ships on order for all the demand.
Lol. Spending money on the last of their voters while they are still alive? hehe

S600BSB

6,121 posts

113 months

Tuesday 5th September 2023
quotequote all
Just the first of many.