City council fails to adopt budget for coming financial year

Councillors at Bristol City Council have voted down the council's budget for 2024/25, pushing back adoption by at least a week.

At a full council meeting held on Tuesday (21 February), the vast majority of members voted against adopting a series of recommendations relating to the budget, leading the council to cease discussing all budget proposals at the meeting.

The council is now set to reconsider the proposals, which include plans to increase council tax by 4.99%, at a second full council meeting on 28 February.

Introducing the document, Bristol's Mayor Marvin Rees told councillors the financial plans had been made in a financial context "characterised by austerity, inflation, the consequences of Brexit, the war in Ukraine and our national political instability".

He also highlighted "unprecedented financial challenges" for local government, noting the eight council bankruptcies since 2021 and figures that suggest one in five local authorities are struggling to make ends meet and at risk of bankruptcy.

Following a three-hour meeting, the recommendations were voted down with 19 votes for, 40 votes against and one abstention. This led to Bristol's Lord Mayor calling an end to the meeting.

The Mayor will now consider whether to move the original budget, the amended budget, or an alternative budget at next week's Full Council meeting.

The news comes a week after Labour councillors refused to back a budget aimed at closing a £50m budget gap at Nottingham City Council.

Nottingham's leader, Labour Cllr David Mellen, said he could not recommend the proposed budget and said there would be further discussions with officers about the proposed cuts, according to a report from the BBC.

Adam Carey