BIRMINGHAM COUNCIL workers must not “pay the price for a crisis they didn’t create,” Unite said after councillors signed off what is thought to be the biggest budget cut in local authority history.

Europe’s largest local authority approved a devastating wave of cuts to services ahead of a 21 per cent rise in council tax over two years on Tuesday night.

Last September, it declared itself effectively bankrupt and looks to make £300 million in savings after equal pay claims of up to £760m and an £80m overspend on an under-fire IT system combine with years of deep cuts to central government’s funding for councils.