Birmingham council cuts services while hiking tax to balance books

Birmingham may boast that it is Europe’s biggest local authority, but its city councillors will be voting tonight on whether to shrink services while hiking up council tax bills by more than 20 per cent in the next two years.

That means hundreds of jobs are at risk along with services such as libraries, road repairs, and park maintenance.

And Birmingham is by no means alone among local authorities in being effectively bankrupt.