Council was right to go bust, say finance fixers

OFFICERS DEFEND DECISION AFTER EXPERT CLAIMS IT WAS ‘EXAGGERATED’

- JANE HAYNES News Reporter

COMMISSIONERS overseeing Birmingham City Council have strongly hit back at claims the authority's bankruptcy was “not necessary” and its financial woes “exaggerated”.

Lead commissioner Tony McArdle and finance commissioner Chris Tambini said it was a “false narrative” for academics to claim the council had been in “reasonable” financial health when senior officers raised the alarm in 2023.

They described the analysis as “ill informed” and “distracting” at a critical time.

The government sent in the commissioners to take over the council’s affairs two years ago.

The pair took the unusual step of issuing a public statement in response to headlines proclaiming the council's bankruptcy was unnecessary, based on an analysis by accounting expert Dr James Brackley and others.