A week after Birmingham City Council unveiled its budget there is still little clarity over exactly where or how almost £62 million of cuts will be achieved.

Tory leader Mike Whitby opened this week’s Cabinet meeting with a speech in which he talked about his administration’s “narrative” and repeated the laudable sentiments of protecting the vulnerable and balancing the budget.

No leisure centres, swimming pools, libraries or even respite care homes will be closed he stressed.

Opposition leader Sir Albert Bore responded with a list of detailed questions about just where the savings will be made. £10 million will be recovered from the NHS to help pay for adult social care, but that still leaves about £52 million.

The council has decided not to plough ahead with cuts in almost every area which generated protest or legal action last year. These include reducing the eligibility for social care and home-to-school transport, youth services, and the closure of respite care facilities for disabled children.

Sir Albert, who is likely to inherit this budget in May, wondered why £11.6 million of debt was being put off.

“Are you doing a Greece on us?” he wondered. And described the whole thing as “smoke and mirrors”.