Labour loses control of Birmingham city council after 14 years of leadership

The Labour party’s 14-year leadership in Birmingham has come to an end after Reform, Greens and pro-Gaza independents made significant gains in the UK’s second-largest city. No party has yet won an overall majority at Birmingham city council, one of Europe’s largest local authorities, with the results reflecting wider political fragmentation across England . Labour lost hundreds of council seats in England , many to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which made big gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south. Labour was expected to take significant losses in the all-out elections in Birmingham, where 101 seats were up for grabs. The council has been plagued by a series of problems in recent years, from the declaration of bankruptcy in 2023, subsequent cuts to local services and the ongoing bin strike – images of rubbish piled on the city’s streets have made headlines across the world. The local authority, which is responsible for a £4.4bn budget, has so far lost more than 30 Labour councillors, and gained 21 Reform and 11 Green councillors. The outgoing Labour leader of the council, John Cotton, said the party needed to “listen carefully to the message” of the electorate, and called on the party to better communicate its vision to voters. “We know that midterm elections are always difficult for the party of government,” he said. …