Councillor Ewan Mackey (Con, Roughley) Deputy Leader of Birmingham Local Conservatives has called for Councillor Brigid Jones to resign following a catalogue of failures which have plunged the council into crisis. Councillor Jones has held a Cabinet seat in the Labour Administration since they took control 11 years ago. First, as Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, she saw commissioners brought in to fix the service she led, resulting in control of children’s social care being removed from the council and placed into a trust. Then as Deputy Leader from 2017-2023, she was second in command, with responsibility for oversight of the commissioning and implementation of the Oracle Finance system, which has run 3 years late, cost £100m (5 times its budget) and plunged the council into chaos, unable to complete its accounts by the statutory deadline. Throughout all of this, she was also at the top table for Labour’s dangerously negligent failure to address Equal Pay, which has landed residents with a potential £760m bill.
Cllr Ewan Mackey said,
“Whilst responsibility has to be shared across the Labour Cabinet, both past and current, Cllr Jones has been an ever-present through the whole period of a Labour Administration that has brought the City Council to the very brink. Her failure to properly oversee the implementation of Oracle – despite telling me it had been subject to intense cabinet oversight by her and others – combined with the reckless behaviour of her and her Cabinet colleagues in failing to address Equal Pay, has created a perfect storm that will rain misery on Birmingham residents for years to come.”
Councillor Jones ceased to be Deputy Leader following intervention from the Labour NEC, which found widespread dysfunction, and allegations of misogyny and racism. The NEC deemed her unsuitable to remain as Deputy Leader, but the new Leader (himself a key part of the labour leadership throughout the last decade) felt fit to appoint her as Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, with responsibility for fixing the mess of Oracle, and now introducing emergency budget measures to avoid bankruptcy from the equal pay bill.
Councillor Mackey added,
“There has to be accountability for the chaos that Labour has brought on this city. Unfortunately, Cllr Jones’ track record inspires very little confidence that these issues will ever be resolved whilst she remains in post.”
