Walsall Council's financial crisis raised in Parliament
Theresa May has been told her Government must provide more funding for councils after Walsall was used as an example of the crisis facing local authorities in England.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn repeated criticism of the Government by Walsall Council's Tory leader Mike Bird in the House of Commons and he pressured the Prime Minister over public spending.
Councillor Bird has hit out at the Government over recent weeks as his authority is faced with saving £20 million in the next financial year and is preparing to increase council tax once again.
Mr Corbyn said during Prime Minister's Questions: "This process hasn’t been very convincing to Mike Bird, the Conservative leader of Walsall Council who says never, ever believe what you hear from central government, austerity is not over. Her MPs seems to have lost a lot of confidence in her and so have her councillors as well."
Speaking afterwards, Councillor Bird said: "Councils up and down the country are seeing reductions in funding. To say austerity has gone - it might be in the future but at this point we are struggling to balance the books."
