Government of Birmingham
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This page is about the Government of Birmingham, England.
History
Most of Birmingham was historically a part of Warwickshire, though the modern city also includes villages and towns formerly in Staffordshire or Worcestershire.Until the 1760s Birmingham was administered by manorial and parish officials, most of whom served on a part-time and honorary basis. By the 1760s the population growth of Birmingham made this system completely inadquate, and salaried officials were needed. In 1768 a body of "Commisioners of the Streets" was established who had powers to levy a rate for functions such as cleaning and street lighting. They were later given powers to provide policing and build public buildings.
The Reform Act of 1832 gave Birmingham its first representation in Parliament initially with only two MPs but this has been gradually expanded.
Birmingham gained the status of a municipal borough in 1838 and gained its first elected town council which took over the functions of the Street Comissioners. In 1889 it became a county borough (unitary authority) and a city. This remained unchanged until 1974 when Birmingham became a metropolitan district of the newly-created West Midlands county under the West Midlands County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and Birmingham effectively reverted to being a unitary authority although sharing some services with other authorities in the county.
Local government
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 councillors representing just under one million people, in 40 wards. The council headquarters are based at the Council House in the city centre.Birmingham City Council is a unitary authority responsible for running nearly all local services, with the exception of those run by joint boards as detailed below. The provision of certain services has in recent years been devolved to several Districts, which each have an area committee made up of councillors from that district.
Political control
After the election of 10 June 2004, there was no overall control, with the 120 seats being divided between the Labour, (53 councillors), Conservative (39) and Liberal Democrat ("Lib-Dem", 28) parties.
By-elections and defections in 2005 altered the distribution of seats within the council with Labour holding 46 seats, Conservatives holding 40, Liberal Democrats holding 30, the People's Justice Party holding 2 and independent councillors holding a further 2. In 2006, the People's Justice Party disbanded, with their two councillors joining the Liberal Democrats, and Councillor Ann Holtom defected from Labour to the Liberal Democrats.
In the elections of 4 May 2006, when a third of the council was up for re-election, Labour lost a net total of two seats, the Conservatives made a net gain of one, the Liberal Democrats had no change, and Respect and the British National Party gained one each, though the BNP candidate's election was caused by a counting error[link] and was subject to a recount on 3 July 2006, the outcome of which has yet to be declared.
There is a Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition, with Conservative group leader Mike Whitby as Leader of the council and Lib-Dem group leader Paul Tilsley as Deputy Leader.
The Conservatives' main local strongholds are in the Sutton Coldfield and Edgbaston districts. 23 of their 41 councillors represent wards in these two areas. They have also recently performed well in the south-west of the city, holding all three council seats in wards such as Northfield and Bournville. Labour, who used to be as dominant at local authority level as they still are at Westminster, have seen their representation reduced almost exclusively to wards in the centre and north of the city. Their main strongholds are inner-city wards such as Ladywood, Soho and Nechells. The Liberal Democrats' strength is concentrated in the south and south-east of the city, particularly the Yardley district, where John Hemming was elected as the Liberal Democrats' only Birmingham MP in the 2005 general election.
| Year | Labour | Conservatives | Liberal Democrats | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 42 | 41 | 33 | 4 |
| 2004 | 53 | 39 | 28 | 0 |
| 2003 | 57 | 35 | 23 | 2 |
| 2002 | 67 | 31 | 15 | 4 |
| 2000 | 66 | 28 | 18 | 5 |
| 1999 | 77 | 20 | 16 | 4 |
Joint services
The city council runs some services jointly with the six other authorities in the West Midlands county.These include the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive which oversees public transport.
Wards
Following the June 2004 reorganisation, Birmingham's wards are:- Acocks Green
- Aston
- Bartley Green
- Billesley
- Bordesley Green
- Bournville
- Brandwood
- Edgbaston
- Erdington
- Hall Green
- Handsworth Wood
- Harborne
- Hodge Hill
- Kings Norton
- Kingstanding
- Ladywood
- Longbridge
- Lozells and East Handsworth
- Moseley and Kings Heath
- Nechells
- Northfield
- Oscott
- Perry Barr
- Quinton
- Selly Oak
- Shard End
- Sheldon
- Soho
- South Yardley
- Sparkbrook
- Springfield
- Stechford and Yardley North
- Stockland Green
- Sutton Four Oaks
- Sutton New Hall
- Sutton Trinity
- Sutton Vesey
- Tyburn
- Washwood Heath
- Weoley
Districts
From 5 April 2004, responsibility and budgets for a number of services were devolved to 11 district committees, as part of a growing trend in the UK to use area committees for large councils. These are:- Edgbaston
- Erdington
- Hall Green
- Hodge Hill
- Ladywood
- Northfield
- Perry Barr
- Selly Oak
- Sparkbrook
- Sutton Coldfield
- Yardley
Parishes
Birmingham is nearly entirely unparished. Its only civil parish, New Frankley, was established in 2000 in an area transferred from Bromsgrove in 1995, which had previously been part of the Frankley parish.At Westminster
Birmingham's eleven constituencies are represented in the House of Commons by one Conservative, one Liberal Democrat and nine Labour MPs.
| # | Constituency | MP | Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham, Edgbaston | Gisela Stuart | Labour |
| 2 | Birmingham, Erdington | Siôn Simon | Labour |
| 3 | Birmingham, Hall Green | Stephen James McCabe | Labour |
| 4 | Birmingham, Hodge Hill | Liam Byrne | Labour |
| 5 | Birmingham, Ladywood | Clare Short | Labour |
| 6 | Birmingham, Northfield | Richard Burden | Labour |
| 7 | Birmingham, Perry Barr | Khalid Mahmood | Labour |
| 8 | Birmingham, Selly Oak | Dr Lynne Jones | Labour |
| 9 | Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath | Roger Godsiff | Labour |
| 10 | Sutton Coldfield | Andrew Mitchell | Conservative |
| 11 | Birmingham, Yardley | John Hemming | Lib-Dem |
External links
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