United Kingdom: City of Nottingham enters the list of bankrupt cities
Nottingham has joined the list of bankrupt cities in the UK. Municipal services will have to be sacrificed, while many other cities are at risk of suffering the same fate.
A pedestrian wearing a face mask crosses a street in central Nottingham, central England, October 9, 2020. AFP - OLI SCARFF
By: RFI Follow
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With our correspondent in London, Marie Boëda
After Birmingham and four other cities, it is now the turn of the city of Nottingham, in the north of the United Kingdom, to go bankrupt. In the municipality of 300,000 people, public services will be reduced. The chairman of the city council, a member of the Labour Party, remains vague about the next services to be sacrificed. This could initially affect sports or leisure centres. However, Mellen says he will continue to pay his staff and bills.
Read alsoUnited Kingdom: the country's second city, Birmingham, declares bankruptcy
According to him, the government is responsible for the situation: "Liz Truss's 40 days in office had a significant impact on the increase in inflation last year, the cost of care exploded," said the city councillor. We are not the only municipality in this situation. We are victims of the current government's underfunding of Nottingham City Council. We have been losing a hundred million euros every year for the past 10 years."
Explosion in the number of homeless people
Add to that the increase in the cost of some health services for the poor, as well as the cost of childcare and the explosion in the number of homeless people, and the Labour mayor's office has a spending surplus of €26 million for the current year.
According to a Conservative government minister, Robert Jenrick, it is the head of the municipality who is showing incompetence. But the president of the association of mayors, members of the ruling party, is sounding the alarm. Municipalities are reaching a breaking point and by next year, half of the country's cities could declare bankruptcy.
Read alsoUnited Kingdom: the public hospital on the brink of the abyss
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