Birmingham is quickly transforming into a third world city
Yesterday's scenes from Birmingham, where a mobile bin collection was called off after it was swarmed by residents desperate to dispose of their rubbish, have reinforced the image of it fast becoming a failed city.
Some will say that none of this is new to Britain – that sight of bin bags piling up on rat-infested streets was commonplace in cities like Birmingham during the so-called 'winter of discontent' in the late 1970s. It is a fair point to make – industrial action by binmen is bound to have this kind of impact, especially in densely-populated areas of inner-city England.
But this overlooks the spectacular mismanagement of Britain's second-largest city in recent times, which is largely down to the culturally dysfunctional nature of its key public institutions – most of all, Birmingham City Council, which has developed a reputation for being one of the most incompetent local authorities in the land.
Back in September 2023, Labour-controlled Birmingham City Council issued a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring itself bankrupt. The factors behind this declaration included a huge equal pay liability and disastrous IT system upgrade – leading to significant cuts to services and considerable council tax increases. The residents of Birmingham are paying more for less benefits, being expected to foot the bill for their own council's rank ineptitude.
A damning report published a couple of months ago by auditors Grant Thornton highlighted an organisational culture at Birmingham City Council of 'not reporting or being receptive to bad news, an over-emphasis on protecting personal reputations and a lack of challenge and rigour in governance'.
As well as raising the 'serious mismanagement in the waste and street-scene services' (which preceded the refuse workers' strikes), auditors also flagged serious failings in services for families and children with special educational needs and disabilities. Perhaps it is no surprise that the Social Mobility Commission's recent 'State of the Nation' report placed Birmingham in the 'unfavourable' category for conditions of childhood. Officials and staff at the council have also faced allegations of criminal corruption, excessive hospitality, and failing to declare interests in connection to multi-million-pound housing repairs contracts.
Birmingham does not only suffer from woeful governance at the hands of the local council – in the shape of West Midlands Police, the city falls under a territorial force which is completely out of its depth when it comes to so-called 'community relations'. Back in 2015, it was revealed that senior officers at West Midlands Police suppressed a report on Birmingham's grooming gangs, for fear that it would inflame racial tensions ahead of the 2010 general election. A total of seventy-five suspects were identified, most having a history of sexual violence and predominantly being of Pakistani heritage.
West Midlands Police's diabolical approach to 'diversity management' was exposed yet again during last summer's violent disorder. Superintendent Emlyn Richards revealed that his force consulted Muslim 'community and business leaders' after rumours that a far-right English Defence League march was planned for the Muslim-concentrated Birmingham areas of Alum Rock and Bordesley Green. This colonial-style 'British Raj' approach to keeping the peace by outsourcing law-and-order responsibilities to unaccountable 'community figures' clearly didn't pay off, with The Clumsy Swan pub being stormed by a violent mob who wrongly believed that EDL members were at the establishment.
There was a time when Birmingham was considered one of the world's greatest cities. Playing a critical role in the Industrial Revolution, Birmingham was described in the summer of 1890 by Harper's Magazine as the 'best-governed city in the world'. It evolved from being a small seventh-century Anglo-Saxon hamlet to a shining beacon of gold-standard governance and groundbreaking commercial innovation.
Atrocious forms of modern-day governance – at both the national and local level – have contributed towards the 'thirdworldification' of Birmingham. It is now a city defined by its malfunctioning public institutions, dire social infrastructure, unstable community relations, and loss of civic industrial pride.
Birmingham's tragic decline is surely one of the most depressing tales of post-WWII Britain.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
23 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Murray hails ‘brilliant opportunities' of UK Government's industrial strategy
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer unveiled the document on Monday, pinpointing key industries believed to have the most potential for growth such as artificial intelligence, offshore wind and batteries for electric vehicles. The 160-page document put Scotland 'at the heart of the UK's energy transition', as well as talking up commitments to a £750 million supercomputer in Edinburgh and £200 million in development funding for the Acorn carbon capture and storage facility in Aberdeenshire. The Prime Minister also announced a cut to electricity bills for industrial businesses, £30 million for the video games sector – with a number of high profile developers based in Scotland – and £30 million for research and development for each of the devolved nations. Delighted to be in Cockenzie, East Lothian for the launch of the UK Industrial Strategy today. Lots of brilliant opportunities for Scotland from the 8 growth sectors. Jobs, investment, regeneration and skills. — Ian Murray MP (@IanMurrayMP) June 23, 2025 In a post on X following a visit to the promote the strategy, the Scottish Secretary said: 'Delighted to be in Cockenzie, East Lothian, for the launch of the UK industrial strategy today. 'Lots of brilliant opportunities for Scotland from the eight growth sectors. 'Jobs, investment, regeneration and skills.' The strategy was also praised by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. 'Labour's industrial strategy delivers for Scotland – unlocking economic potential, raising wages, boosting living standards, and delivering the growth we need,' he said. Asked about his response to the UK Government's announcement on Monday, First Minister John Swinney touted his own Government's work on industry. 'Of course, we have in Scotland our own approach to industrial strategy, which involves working with our universities, with our economic development agencies to ensure that we attract investment and can support development within the economy,' he told the PA news agency. 'Last week, we saw that Scotland, for the 10th year in a row, was the most successful part of the United Kingdom for the attraction of inward investment other than London and the south east. 'So that's an indication that the Scottish Government's got its priorities correct, its focus correct on the attraction of investment, because we're contributing to make Scotland an incredibly successful investment location.'
Telegraph
43 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Starmer picks his winners in bid to revive British industry
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to make Britain 'the best place to do business' with a new industrial strategy focused on eight key areas of the economy. At 160 pages, the lengthy document will form the centrepiece of Labour's economic policy as ministers try to navigate the impact of geopolitical crises and Donald Trump's tariffs. It is designed to provide a clear blueprint for the Government's priorities over the next 10 years, unlocking jobs and investment. But critics have argued it will do little to help businesses battling rising prices and higher taxes. Here we look at some of the most interesting policies in the strategy published on Monday. What are the eight sectors? The Industrial Strategy focuses on eight areas of the economy that it says have 'the highest potential' over the next decade. They are: Advanced manufacturing (including cars) The creative industries Life sciences Clean energy Defence Digital and technologies Professional and business services Financial services Britain's 'foundational' industries – steel, construction, chemicals, ports and so forth – are also included. The eight sectors are those the Government believes will be most important to the country's future economic success. But as with any attempt to choose favourites, those left out are not happy. 'Ignoring 70pc of the economy is at odds with the Government's ambition to create jobs and help people into work,' warned Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality. Energy costs The biggest new policy to come out of the strategy is a scheme to help manufacturers with soaring energy bills. British companies have been paying the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world, according to official data.
Spectator
43 minutes ago
- Spectator
David Lammy has nothing to say
The day started badly for David Lammy. Well – we don't know that for sure – it's feasible that first thing this morning he won a great victory over his toothpaste tube, however his appearance on the Today programme wasn't exactly a triumph. Asked by Justin Webb whether the US action was legal he told him that 'we weren't involved'. That's the spirit: answer the question you want, not the question you were asked. The Sage of Tottenham continued to manifest his dream interview rather than the one that was actually going on. We had a rather fun segue into the periodic table and percentages of uranium enrichment. 'Oh Justin', said Lammy at one point, 'we've always been clear'. As a rainy day in Dundee. Lammy continued his grand clarity tour in parliament where he made a statement on the state of the Middle East. It was hardly a great moment in the history of British foreign policy. Essentially, he told the House that there was almost nothing that Britain could or would do. 'We will continue to persist with diplomacy', was his repeated statement. As if this were some sort of active choice rather than the inevitable result of declining power. Imagine the equivalent statement in the natural world: 'we will continue to persist with this tidal drift', proclaims plankton. At the end of Lammy's clarity extravaganza, not much was announced Once upon a time the foreign secretary would come to the House of Commons to tell them that Britain had sent gunboats to sort out a recalcitrant country: nowadays he comes to announce that 'we've opened an email portal'. Next to Lammy sat Hamish Falconer, whose nepotistic rise in the contemporary Labour party makes the thousand-year Iranian Shahdom look like an exercise in raw meritocracy. The government benches tut-tutted when Sarah Pochin of Reform UK asked whether the Americans had felt unable to launch their attacks from the Diego Garcia base, owing to the terms of the Chagos surrender deal. 'Dear, dear' harrumphed one back-bencher. At that precise moment, Stephen Doughty, a flustered junior minister, was umming and ahhing before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about whether the Mauritian taxpayer's bonza payout was being funded from the UK defence budget. Stuttering commenced. Today's mediocrity war was being waged on many fronts. 'The Honourable Lady has got to get off social media,' oiled the Foreign Secretary, accusing Pochin of 'swallowing conspiracy theories'. 'Answer the question!' bellowed Richard Tice. A valiant effort but he might as well have been screaming at a lump of plasticine. At the end of Lammy's clarity extravaganza, not much was announced, even less concretely achieved. Britain's foreign policy continues to look depressingly like a bald man giving his opinion on the design of a comb.
