Birmingham: Birmingham declares itself bankrupt

LONDON: The local authorities running Britain’s second-largest city, Birmingham, have shifted focus on maintaining vital services as they declared the council effectively bankrupt due to an annual budgetary shortfall of millions of pounds. Birmingham city council, which is the largest local authority in Europe, issued a Section 114 notice on Tuesday to say all new expenditures with the exception of protecting vulnerable people and statutory services will stop immediately. The council said the dire situation arose as it must fund an “equal pay liability” that has accrued to date in the region of 650 million to 760 million, but it does not have the resources to do so. Birmingham Council has paid out almost GB.1 billion in equal pay claims since a case was brought against the authority in 2012.