Did Birmingham have to go bankrupt? The Dispatch posed this question in May, at the height of the bin strike, when rubbish lined the streets and rat catchers were doing a roaring trade.
Accepted wisdom had it that the strike was a result of the city’s financial crisis, which itself was caused by actions taken by the council after the bin strike of 2017. Namely, the decision to create a role in the waste service which caused an equal pay risk, leading to mounting, very expensive, claims.
But, we asked, had the grim situation we found ourselves in been entirely avoidable? Did Birmingham actually need to declare bankruptcy?
In fact, doubts about the ‘bankruptcy’ have been circulating since early 2024. Among the most incredulous…