Birmingham city council, the largest local authority in Europe, has declared itself in effect bankrupt, becoming the latest UK local government body to announce it cannot balance the books this year.
The Labour-run council for the UK’s second city, which serves more than 1mn people, said on Tuesday that it had issued a section 114 notice owing to “unprecedented financial challenges”.
It blamed its predicament largely on the need to settle historic equal pay claims worth up to ￡760mn, more than its annual budget for services.
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