Why British Cities Keep Going Bankrupt

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Why British Cities Keep Going Bankrupt​

British cities are going bankrupt. What was once an exceptionally rare event has become a regular occurance as six city, borough or county councils have announced they've run out of cash over the past two years.

In order to find out why, Tom Nicholas sets off on a four-day road trip around the UK to unpick how local government in the UK works, and how local councils might be empowered to become more sustainable in the future.

Chapters
00:00 British Cities are Going Bankrupt
01:46 Act I: Birmingham Goes Bust
12:10 Act II: A Brief Guide to UK Local Government
28:17 Act III: Deceptive Decentralisation
35:06 Epilogue: Community Wealth Building

 

[_NOBODY_]

@Goenitz @Waz @313Ghazi @RescueRanger @Ali_Baba

 

[313Ghazi]

Thanks for the tag. I have my own opinions - will watch the video InshaAllah and see if they match.

My 3 factors.

1. Severely reduced central funding. Conservative govts have been under funding local govt for 15 years. Traditional labour voting councils were regularly hit with the deepest cuts.


2. Outsourcing to private companies at extortionate rates. Typically because councils lose manpower due to cuts and lose expertise. They then outsource project work, but also some regular services start off cheaper to outsource and then once the internal capabilities are eroded and they're reliant on the private sector - prices creep up.

3. Council inefficiency and vanity projects. Local govt is inefficient, they've got a very lazy working culture and is run by idiots who focus on vanity projects.

 

[Goenitz]

Any chance house market is going down
@Waz @Musings
or just councils spending recklessly.

 

[KingQamaR]

Shouldn't give councils so much rope to hang themselves with. Public sector people are notoriously spend thrifty and wasteful. Tell them if they spend more than they bring in, all employees on more than 100k pa will be fired. I bet they'd stay within budget then

 

[Menthol]

Thanks for the tag. I have my own opinions - will watch the video InshaAllah and see if they match.

My 3 factors.

1. Severely reduced central funding. Conservative govts have been under funding local govt for 15 years. Traditional labour voting councils were regularly hit with the deepest cuts.


2. Outsourcing to private companies at extortionate rates. Typically because councils lose manpower due to cuts and lose expertise. They then outsource project work, but also some regular services start off cheaper to outsource and then once the internal capabilities are eroded and they're reliant on the private sector - prices creep up.

3. Council inefficiency and vanity projects. Local govt is inefficient, they've got a very lazy working culture and is run by idiots who focus on vanity projects.

Vanity projects are very important to politicians.

Because their popularity depends on it, which is indirectly affecting their career.

It's very smart, in my opinion.

 

[JaneBhiDoYaaron]

Freebies and lot of fat in government services.