Commenting after the news that commissioners will be appointed to Birmingham City Council, after the Section 114 notice issued earlier this month, Shabana Mahmood said:

“Like everyone who calls this city home – I am deeply concerned by the difficult financial position faced by Birmingham City Council.

“Earlier this month we received news that the Council issued a Section 114 notice – this is a notice that indicates the Council can no longer meet its spending commitments from its income. Subsequently, the Government has today announced its decision to appoint commissioners to run the Council.

“During my time as your MP I have continuously challenged political leaderships of all stripes at the Council, representing your views on a range of issues from the state of our streets to the quality of our services.

“Since May, the new leadership in Birmingham have worked urgently on this issue and have been clear that they will take responsibility for tackling the problems facing our city – but they can only make progress if the Government treats them as partners.

“The Conservative Government aren’t blameless in all of this, and we cannot escape the impact of the severe cuts that have been imposed on people up and down the country. The pain of austerity was always going to be felt most acutely by the citizens of our city and like local authorities across the UK, our city has faced astronomical cuts to its budget, losing over £1 billion in funding since 2010.

“I welcome the inquiry which will report on how this situation came about and how we move forward. I want to see the Commissioners working with Councillors in our city to tackle problems together. The Government needs to partner with our city, not play politics with the services our people depend on.

“It’s going to be a challenging time for Birmingham, but I will continue to fight alongside residents, as I always have, to get the best deal for our city.”

ENDS