Birmingham’s Council Tax will rise by five per cent this year – as the city makes £71 million-worth of cuts.

But even that is like using a sticking plaster on a gaping wound as costs and demand for social care soar, Birmingham’s Labour leader warned as councillors prepared to vote through his budget on Tuesday night.

Coun John Clancy placed the blame for the funding crisis at the door of the Government who, he said, had offered little help to struggling councils or the NHS.

He said a three per cent social care levy, which Birmingham’s council taxpayers will pay, would contribute just £9 million towards the £338 million annual social care bill.

That, he said, would be nowhere near enough to cover the costs of an ageing population, or wage rises for care staff.

The levy, coupled with the regular two per cent council tax rise, means Birmingham's taxpayers will see bills rise by a total of five per cent.

Your council tax is going up again
Your council tax is going up again

But opposition Conservatives claimed Labour’s financial mismanagement was to blame and proposed a council tax freeze while guaranteeing a higher voluntary living wage for care staff.

They claimed they could cut waste and inefficiency on contracts – including the scrapping of the council’s costly Service Birmingham IT contract – to put more money into services.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems wanted to see more investment in street cleaning, waste collection, recycling and enforcement of fly-tipping.

Birmingham City Council Leader John Clancy

Counc Clancy hit out at the Government for under-funding Birmingham, saying six years of austerity cuts had left the city’s public services ‘battered and bruised’.

The council had listened and eased planned cuts to the Supporting People fund for vulnerable people, parks and museums following public outcry, he said.

He added a Government grant of £5.6 million extra towards social care had been offset by a £5.6 million cut in the new homes bonus, awarded to the city for developing new properties.

“It’s all jiggery-pokery, smoke and mirrors, saying one thing and doing another,” he stormed.

He also hit out at opposition Tory proposals, saying their claim savings could be made through smarter, more efficient working did not add up.

“Opening coffee shops in libraries, that’s their big idea,” he said.

“But with £600 million having disappeared from the council’s budget in seven years, Starbucks isn’t going to come to our rescue.”

During an at times heated and highly personal debate, Conservative leader Coun Robert Alden hit back, highlighting the Labour-run council’s failure to stick to its budget, the recent chaos surrounding the departure of the chief executive, and the council’s continued placement under Government supervision.

“No other councils are failing like Birmingham,” he said.

“The Labour legacy is failing services, external commissioners and litter on our streets.

"If something drastic does not change, the city council will be taken over.”

Lib Dem leader Coun Jon Hunt, who described Labour’s handling of last year’s budget a ‘shambles’, called for more investment in street cleaning and measures to tackle anti-social behaviour and flytipping.

There was also a proposal to bring back free garden waste collections and food waste recycling.