LGIU Response: Commissioners brought in to help run Birmingham City Council

Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive, LGIU, said:

“Michael Gove is following what is sadly becoming a familiar playbook and sending in Max Caller, the go-to commissioner for ailing councils.

There’s no doubt that commissioners can turn around a council’s finances, but the cure can be pretty brutal: job losses, service cuts, asset sales, council tax rises.

Unconstrained by the need to seek re-election, commissioners can pick from a menu of hard choices: that’s why they’re there.

What’s not so clear is the long term impact of these choices on the local area and on the long term viability of the council. Assets can only be sold once, lost capacity can take years to rebuild and service cuts can have long term impacts.

Today’s news is no surprise. But it indicates a lot of pain to come.”