Starmer pledges council funding change over Birmingham woes

Sir Keir Starmer told BBC Radio WM the funding councils get from the government had to be fixed

Sir Keir Starmer said a Labour government would fix how councils are funded to avoid similar situations to crisis-hit Birmingham City Council.

The Labour leader said the current funding settlements for local authorities was too short-term.

"It's almost impossible to plan properly, we've got to fix that," Sir Keir told BBC Radio WM.

The government said councils in England received £59.7bn in 2023-24, a rise of up to £5.1bn on the year before.

In a similar interview ahead of the Conservative Party conference, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, on Birmingham, it was up to councils to manage their own finances.

Birmingham declared itself effectively bankrupt last month and commissioners have been appointed by the government.

The team of eight will guide the authority after all non-essential spending was stopped and are expected to be in place for the next five years.

During his interview with presenter Rakeem Omar, Sir Keir acknowledged people in Birmingham would be worried about their local services under the Labour-run council.

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But he said finances of local authorities across the country "have been very tight for years and that has contributed to the problem in Birmingham".

"What we would do in government is change the funding settlement for councils like Birmingham. At the moment, it is very short-term," the Labour leader added.

Sir Keir Starmer spoke to BBC Radio WM's Rakeem Omar

When pushed that the previous Labour mismanagement in the city could lead to council tax rises, Sir Keir admitted "we have to turn this around".

"We can talk about this problem or we can fix it and I think my mindset is if you see a problem, work out what's gone wrong and fix it going forward."

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities decisions on council funding levels would be taken after the Spending Review next year.

Speaking last week, lead commissioner Max Caller said Birmingham had got itself into its financial mess and would have to get itself out.

The council is facing a bill of up to £760m to settle equal pay claims and has already paid more than £1bn in compensation to underpaid workers.

The flawed rollout of a new IT system saw the project's costs spiral from £19m to £100m, adding another burden.