Birmingham City Council has confirmed it will reconvene next Friday evening to select its next leader and decide who will run the local authority, the largest in Europe. The annual council meeting will take place on Friday, June 5, at 6pm, a date and time described as unusual, and will be livestreamed for public viewing.
This marks the first opportunity for the council's 101 newly elected members to cast their votes on leadership following the local elections on May 7, which resulted in a hung council with no party securing enough seats to take control. The meeting originally convened on Tuesday, May 19, but was adjourned after the traditional mayor-making ceremony, before leadership candidates could be nominated.
Since then, secret talks have been held among elected members to forge a path forward. BirminghamLive's politics and people editor Jane Haynes predicts that a minority coalition comprising the Green Party (19 seats), the Liberal Democrats (12 seats), and the Better Birmingham Independents (7 seats) will propose their choice for leader and form the cabinet team. However, this bid will succeed only if they secure direct backing or abstentions from at least two other council groups.
Liberal Democrat Roger Harmer is expected to be the coalition's candidate for leader. Reform UK (23 seats) and Labour (17 seats) have previously stated they will not enter a coalition. Other groups include the Conservatives (16 seats), remaining Independents (6 seats), and the Workers' Party (1 seat).
Currently, council affairs are overseen by independent commissioners appointed by the government following the council's de facto bankruptcy and governance failures in 2023.
In the aftermath of the last full council meeting, Reform UK criticized the council for allowing an imam to recite a short verse from the Qur'an in Arabic, followed by an English translation, during the mayor-making ceremony. They demanded that all council business be conducted solely in English, a stance criticized as misleading and divisive, though supported by national Reform leaders as common sense.
Labour group leader Nicky Brennan condemned Reform's position, stating: "Reform don't care about this city or its traditions, they only care about dividing communities. Instead of coming up with constructive solutions to the challenges we face, they are disrespecting the office of the Lord Mayor. They know full well that council business is conducted in English, and that this was a prayer offered to the incoming Lord Mayor, reflective of his faith, just as we have had Christian prayers for former Lord Mayors."
