The leader of Birmingham City Council has lost a vote of confidence during the last full council meeting before local elections in May.

The Conservative opposition put in the no confidence vote against Labour's John Cotton, arguing that Labour had ‘broken Birmingham City Council’.

‘We've had the council declaring effective bankruptcy which was humiliating and costly,’ Conservative councillor Deirdre Alden said. ‘On top of more taxes, we've got a collapse in services so it's a double whammy.’

As well as declaring bankruptcy in September 2023, the local authority has faced long-running bin strikes since early 2025 due to a dispute over pay and job role changes.

The Labour group accused the Tories of playing a ‘cheap trick with the support of their allies in the Liberal Democrats and the Greens’, according to the BBC.

They added it had ‘no implications for the leadership of the council’.