Birmingham Post Comment: Political Flak to Fly Over Pounds 28 Million Overspend

Summary

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A little over four months after taking office, Birmingham City Council's Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is facing its first real crisis. The honeymoon is over and it will soon become clear whether the relationship between the two groups is based on anything more than a marriage of convenience.

It did not take an expert to predict that historic problems with social services spending would be the most likely subject to cause alarm. What was not anticipated was the speed at which impending disaster gathered and the scale of the projected overspend, which now stands at pounds 28 million. That is to say, the overspend stood at pounds 28 million on August 31 which is the most recent accounting period the council can come up with. What the position really is no one truly knows but, with under five months of the financial year to go, the busted budget will not be brought into line quickly enough. If nothing is done social services spending will have risen by 16 per cent in a single year. This, when inflation stands at about two per cent, is clearly not sustainable.

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Birmingham Post Comment: Political Flak to Fly Over Pounds 28 Million Overspend

There has to be some sympathy with the view that the new lead...

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