FORMER Birmingham Labour councillor Martin Brooks has launched an angry tirade against his ex-party colleagues, describing their leaders as ‘unelected’ and controlled by the party's ‘apparatchiks’
In a scathing attack, he told a full council meeting that backbench members were afraid to speak out for fear of deselection, and that the council's leader, deputy leader and cabinet were all imposed by party chiefs.
To murmurs of dissent on the Labour side, and cheers and laughter from the opposition benches, Cllr Brooks took aim at his former group.
He was speaking at an extraordinary meeting of the full council to discuss a public interest report into the council’s failed Oracle IT project that is costing up to £100 million to put right.
A lifetime Labour member until quitting the group earlier this year following a suspension, Cllr Brooks, who represents Harborne, is now an Independent.
During his speech, Cllr Brooks mentioned reports into the council crisis which repeatedly referred to the failed ‘culture and behaviour’ and poor governance which had lain behind multiple issues. A failure of accountability, low levels of trust, a blame culture and difficulty speaking up about bad news were all mentioned.
Cllr Brooks, who now sits in the middle of the council chamber, turned to his former colleagues to state: “The poor political culture emanates from the leadership of the Labour group, and that poor political culture isn’t something from the distant past.”
He then turned on city council leader Cllr John Cotton, who he accused of seeking to ‘mislead councillors and the Birmingham public’ by seeking to portray the Government's refusal to accede to a 9.99% council tax rise as ‘some kind of agreement’.
“He (Clr Cotton) then made out that the Exceptional Financial Support (from the Government) was something other than a loan to be paid back, at an enormous cost to further sales of assets.”
In the resulting confusion, the council budget meeting had to be postponed, he said.
“Politicians will always put a gloss on problematic issues but this kind of behaviour indicates to me that lessons really have not been learned. The reality is that most of us on this council actually don’t have responsibility for the problems that are before us, including the many member...
In a scathing attack, he told a full council meeting that backbench members were afraid to speak out for fear of deselection, and that the council's leader, deputy leader and cabinet were all imposed by party chiefs.
To murmurs of dissent on the Labour side, and cheers and laughter from the opposition benches, Cllr Brooks took aim at his former group.
He was speaking at an extraordinary meeting of the full council to discuss a public interest report into the council’s failed Oracle IT project that is costing up to £100 million to put right.
A lifetime Labour member until quitting the group earlier this year following a suspension, Cllr Brooks, who represents Harborne, is now an Independent.
During his speech, Cllr Brooks mentioned reports into the council crisis which repeatedly referred to the failed ‘culture and behaviour’ and poor governance which had lain behind multiple issues. A failure of accountability, low levels of trust, a blame culture and difficulty speaking up about bad news were all mentioned.
Cllr Brooks, who now sits in the middle of the council chamber, turned to his former colleagues to state: “The poor political culture emanates from the leadership of the Labour group, and that poor political culture isn’t something from the distant past.”
He then turned on city council leader Cllr John Cotton, who he accused of seeking to ‘mislead councillors and the Birmingham public’ by seeking to portray the Government's refusal to accede to a 9.99% council tax rise as ‘some kind of agreement’.
“He (Clr Cotton) then made out that the Exceptional Financial Support (from the Government) was something other than a loan to be paid back, at an enormous cost to further sales of assets.”
In the resulting confusion, the council budget meeting had to be postponed, he said.
“Politicians will always put a gloss on problematic issues but this kind of behaviour indicates to me that lessons really have not been learned. The reality is that most of us on this council actually don’t have responsibility for the problems that are before us, including the many member...
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Birmingham Mail (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 17, 2025