The Labour leader of “bankrupt” Birmingham City Council has been slammed for “being on holiday in New York” as Europe’s biggest local authority goes into financial meltdown.
John Cotton video-called in for a series of interviews on Tuesday when it is claimed he was out of the country, the day it was announced a section 114 notice had been filed by the council he leads, meaning it is effectively bankrupt.
All new spending will stop immediately with the exception of protecting vulnerable people and statutory services.
The Labour-led council said in June it faces an equal pay liability of between £650 million and £760 million, which is growing at between £5 million and £14 million a month and which is now estimated to be more than £1 billion.
Sources told the Mail Online Mr Cotton, who is said to have been handpicked by Sir Keir Starmer, was on holiday in the US when news broke of the financial disaster.
Gary Sambrook, Conservative MP for Birmingham Northfield, told the paper: “If anyone wants to see how Labour would behave in Government then look no further than Birmingham.
“Starmer’s man was picked without a vote and when things get tough is nowhere to be seen. Labour have bankrupted Birmingham and they’ll do the same to the country.”
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The council also faces an in-year financial gap in its budget which currently stands in the region of £87 million.
Speaking to BBC Radio West Midlands, Mr Cotton said the council would “continue to deliver on essential services like children’s safeguarding and social care, social care for adults, education, waste collection, road maintenance and library services”.
The BBC said that Mr Cotton is not in the city due to “longstanding family commitments”, but that statutory services would continue for the city’s 1.1 million taxpayers.
Issues with equal pay settlements at the council have been ongoing for well over a decade.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of 174 low-paid women workers at the council to ensure they were paid equally, which effectively extended the time workers have to bring equal pay compensation claims from six months to six years.
That added to a number of previous equal pay settlements dating back to 2006.
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