Labour plans to taxi in sick for budget vote

COUNCIL FEARS PROPOSAL MAY NOT PASS DUE TO DWINDLING NUMBERS

- JANE HAYNES

BIRMINGHAM City Council's Labour group is working up a plan to taxi in unwell councillors to prop up its budget vote, amid a suddenly squeezed majority.

Commissioners are understood to also be considering their options if the crucial vote does not pass on Tuesday.

The uncertainty comes at a critical time for the Labour group in the city with elections looming that could end its 14-year run in charge.

If it fails to get its budget passed at the first attempt on Tuesday, it would mark a new low in the group's recent troubled history.

Labour's majority was unassailable a year ago when it had 65 councillors out of 101 on the largest unitary local authority in the country.