Plans for dramatic changes to the way Birmingham elects its councillors could sabotage attempts to improve services and deal with the city’s many problems, a member of the House of Lords has warned.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath said councillors would be forced to focus their attention on selection battles and the creation of new wards, instead of tackling failings in services such as child protection.
But another city peer, Lord Rooker of Perry Barr, backed the changes – and called for Birmingham to be broken up into two or more councils.
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They were speaking as the Local Government Boundary Commission continued a review into whether the number of councillors in the city should be cut from 120 to around 100.
Eric Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, has also ordered the council to move to a system of single-member wards, with every seat up for grabs in an election in 2018.
In the past, the city has elected one third of councillors at a time, with polls held in three years out of every four.
The changes were prompted by a review of Birmingham City Council by senior civil servant Sir Bob Kerslake which was prompted by the Trojan Horse affair and problems in the city’s children’s services.
City council leader Sir Albert Bore has accepted the need to make changes but has come under fire from some backbench councillors in his Labour group who disagree.
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, a Labour peer and Shadow Health Minister, told the Lords that he accepted Birmingham faced serious challenges, saying: “Its economy has under-performed compared with London, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield over many years now.
“Parts of Birmingham are among the most deprived in the country. In fact, we have more poor children in Birmingham than in any other part of the country and many of our adults are locked in a spiral where they have low skills and cannot take advantage of some of the new jobs that are being created in the city.”
But the Local Government Boundary Commission’s review made it harder to meet those challenges, he said.
“We know that the moment when the commission starts to do its work, in a situation in which it is proposed to reduce the number of councillors, the focus of most councillors’ attention will not be on these core issues of leading Birmingham out of the very difficult situation that it is in.
“It will be about responding to the boundary commission review and worrying about the new wards, and selection will then take place.
“Councillors’ focus will be on those really rather secondary issues rather than on the core issue of tackling the problems that Sir Bob addresses.”
However, former Birmingham MP Lord Rooker, who represented Birmingham Perry Barr until 2001 and held a series of ministerial posts in the last Labour government, said changes were needed – and said Birmingham should be split into a number of separate councils.
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He said: “The city is too big. London does not suffer for being split into 32 boroughs, and Birmingham would not suffer for being split into two, three or four boroughs.”
He added: “I think that change to all-out elections should be embraced – there is no doubt about it whatever. Single-member wards will be new, but they should be grasped as a positive advantage.”
Lord Rooker told the House of Lords that Birmingham was never held up as an example of good local government. He attended a series of events at Labour Party conferences dealing with local government, he said, adding: “Not once at any meeting I went to was the word ‘Birmingham’ uttered as an example of what was being done as a beacon for others. It was always several other examples of cities in the country on various issues.
“The Birmingham leader knows this to be true because he sat alongside me for the whole of one of those meetings.”
Local Government Minister Lord Ahmad, representing the Government, said: “We believe that the change to the election cycle in the city of Birmingham is critical to securing the fundamental reforms that the city needs.
“The current pattern of elections by thirds has not helped Birmingham’s ability to take strategic decisions. There is, as we all recognise, an inability to focus on the longer-term problems that are holding the council back, including transforming services.”
Watch: Eric Pickles tells the House of Commons he loves Birmingham