Leader responds to latest report from Government Commissioners

Birmingham Liberal Democrats welcome the detailed clarity of the Commissioners’ Assurance Plan, published last night, 2nd February 2026, but highlight the significant work still left to be done, before the Government intervention can end, Commissioners can leave and Birmingham City Council is functioning properly.

Leader Cllr Roger Harmer said: 

“The Assurance Plan, produced well into the third year of intervention, demonstrates just how much had gone wrong in the Council under Labour's leadership since 2012. A root and branch reconstruction of the structures and systems had become necessary, rather than just dealing with a few high-profile areas that had gone wrong, damaging though those were. 

“While progress has been made, a huge amount remains to be done to get the Council back to where it should be, and this will be a key task for the new administration elected this May. It’s therefore vital that we elect those with a good understanding of the issues and are serious about sorting them out. 

“But delivering the Assurance Plan, while necessary, is not enough. We should be much more ambitious for Birmingham than rebuilding a properly functioning Council. We need to listen to our residents and communities, tackle child poverty and deprivation and take our great city back to where it belongs, leading our country forward in tackling the complex challenges of our time.”

Deputy Leader, Cllr Deborah Harries, said:

“The Commissioners certainly don’t pull any punches, as they refer to the Council’s ‘saga of difficulties’, with repeated and widespread failures over the last decade. They make the ‘sobering’ reflection that concerns raised in the 2014 Kerslake Review of failings had remained unaddressed and unresolved. They, therefore, rightly, recognise the need for this Government intervention to ‘bring these concerns to an end once and for all’. 

“What that does mean is the new leadership running the Council after the May local elections will have their work cut out for the next two-and-a-half years, to deliver on the very detailed, timeline of outcomes across all individual departments and the council as a whole, for the intervention to end.”

Deborah added that she particularly welcomed the focus on residents, to improve their customer experience, the emphasis on genuine partnership working to deliver services, as well as professional and effective management of contracts, suppliers and Council assets.