Iron Angle: Nothing is set in stone
Back from a two-week break in Cornwall – it’s the new Tuscany without the sunshine, or the food – to discover that Birmingham City Council’s accountancy wizard Randal Brew had issued a statement about “the challenge we face”.
Experience suggested this was unlikely to be anything much to make a 300-mile dash for, and so it turned out.
Randal, a dry as dust Tory promoted into the cabinet by council leader Mike Whitby – the man he tried to overthrow in a botched coup a year ago – clearly feels the need to justify his position as a “free to roam” cabinet finance member, but once you’ve pointed out that the council will have to save £230 million a year by 2013/14 and that it’s all terribly difficult, there’s not much else to be said.
The very tall and lugubrious Brew puts me in mind of the Easter Island statues – impressive from a distance, but how did he get there and what is he for? Or, perhaps, Old Man River – He mus’ know sumpin’
But don’t say nuthin’,
He jes’ keeps rollin’
He keeps on rollin’ along.
Whitby’s decision to appoint his enemy was interpreted as a climb-down in some quarters, but was in fact a rare move of some strategic brilliance.
Come December when the council cabinet is asked to approve Birmingham’s harshest-ever cuts package, it will be Brew’s fingerprints all over the deal, not Whitby’s. When cabinet heads have to be cracked together to accept the unacceptable, Brew will be required to act as the enforcer while Whitby, no doubt, will be nowhere to be seen.
So, what has the new cabinet finance member told us so far about his quest for savings? A media briefing in July turned out to be a very brief briefing indeed, based on the notion that all of Birmingham’s public agencies working together and pooling their resources could alleviate the pain of spending cuts.
This is based on the last government’s Total Place initiative – the latest Whitehall attempt to encourage councils, health trusts and other public bodies to save money by cutting out duplication (and jobs). The scheme is being championed by Birmingham City Council chief executive Stephen Hughes, although Mr Hughes has understandably been silent since the General Election.
