![\"Coun](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_escenic-87.jpg\")
Coun John Cotton, leader of Labour-run Birmingham City Council\/Conservative Coun Deirdre Alden(Image: BCC webcast portal)<\/p>\nBirmingham City Council’s leader hit back at criticism by saying Brummies ‘will not accept politics built on negativity\u2019Coun John Cotton, leader of Labour-run Birmingham City Council\/Conservative Coun Deirdre Alden(Image: BCC webcast portal)<\/p>\n
Birmingham Council\u2019s Labour administration came under fire from opposition councillors over a vision for the city\u2019s future as election tensions continue to build.<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s<\/a> corporate plan sets out the priorities for Birmingham<\/a> over the next three years and how it intends to overcome the issues which have plagued the local authority.<\/p>\n The Labour<\/a> -run council says it wants to make the city fairer, greener and healthier, with the plan exploring how it can tackle challenges such as housing need, health inequalities, unemployment and child poverty.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Watch tense moment Birmingham council leader faces bins strike fury as man asks ‘would you’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n At a meeting on Tuesday, June 17, council leader John Cotton described it as a \u201cmilestone”, adding it was a \u201cclear demonstration of our ambitions for Birmingham\u201d and their \u201cdetermination to right previous wrongs.\u201d<\/p>\n But the local Conservative<\/a> group slammed the plan with Coun Deirdre Alden describing it as “arrogant” and suggesting the strategy could be seen as a \u201cLabour election pitch\u201d.<\/p>\n In a proposed amendment, she said the council should instead work on a long-term strategy based on the mandate to be delivered through the all-out city council elections in May 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cThe normal practice at elections is for each political party to produce a manifesto setting out their priorities and policies,\u201d she told the council chamber on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe electorate vote and the winning party\u2019s manifesto gets to be implemented by the council.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the officer\u2019s job, to implement the manifesto of the winning party – not the council manifesto, not the previous administration\u2019s manifesto. It\u2019s called, wait for it, democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n Coun Alden continued: \u201cWhere in this document is the acknowledgement that after May 2026, council priorities and policies might well change because of a change of administration.<\/p>\n \u201cTime and resources should not have been spent now on developing a strategy for the years after 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s arrogant and it starts to look as if council resources have been spent on a Labour election pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid council tax hikes and services being cut, she argued a better future for Birmingham lay ahead \u201cwhen this failing Labour administration is gone\u201d.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Birmingham council leader insists net zero ambitions are not being \u2018sidelined\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Referring to remarks about the plan being a “milestone,” Liberal Democrat<\/a> group leader Roger Harmer suggested the council\u2019s Labour administration was a \u201cmillstone around the necks of our city\u201d.<\/p>\n He said the city would be \u2018free of the millstone next May\u2019.<\/p>\n Green Party<\/a> councillor Julien Pritchard argued the council\u2019s plans \u201cdon\u2019t seem to survive contact with reality\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2018Brummies will not accept politics built on negativity\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Coun Cotton fired back by saying the Conservatives\u2019 proposed amendment \u201cremoves any forward-looking ambition for this city\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI certainly, as leader of this council, make no apology for being ambitious for Birmingham,\u201d he told the council chamber.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m certainly not going to apologise for saying this council needs to work with our partners, businesses and citizens to develop a shared view of how we move forward together.<\/p>\n![\"Liberal](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_escenic-88.jpg\")
Liberal Democrat councillor Roger Harmer\/Green Party councillor Julien Pritchard(Image: BCC webcast portal)<\/p>\n
![\"Birmingham](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1750267572_34_6_JS326812388.jpg\")
Birmingham Council leader John Cotton during the budget meeting in 2024(Image: Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Live)<\/p>\n