The UK city where bankrupt Labour council set to enforce new 20mph zone

A bankrupt UK city could become a 20mph zone for motorists under Labour’s new plans.

Birmingham has been tackling a huge mountain of debt and has already told residents of the UK’s second-biggest city they face a 21 percent hike in council tax over two years.

At the same time as asking people to pay more, the Labour-run administration also said it would have to cut £300 million from services and sell off £750 million in assets before April 2026.

The council was already forced to issue a Section 114 notice in September last year, meaning it was ‘bankrupt’.

And now motorists in the area could be hit with a new 20mph speed limit on residential roads. It would hope to save millions by changing where it places the 20mph signs.

Birmingham Council is the largest local authority in Europe and is responsible for 1.1 million citizens.

During the summer Birmingham council declared a “road safety emergency” following 52 deaths and 1,020 serious injuries on its roads.

Road safety campaigner Rod King, who founded 20’s Plenty For Us, told The Sunday Times: “What Birmingham is really doing, rather than doing it road by road, is say, ‘if you come into this city it’s 20mph as a default’.

“It’s about process and signage rather than policy – it’s sensible. It makes it a straightforward process cheaper to implement.”

Britain has had a 30mph speed limit implemented in residential areas since 1935.

Last year Wales introduced a controversial blanket 20mph speed limit, the devolved nation brought in the slower restrictions in a bid to improve road safety, making it the default speed limit everywhere.

The new law to make Wales the first nation to impose 20mph as the default on all restricted roads was passed by the Welsh Parliament in July 2022.

Former Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford quickly came under fire for what opponents labelled an “anti-motorist agenda”. Alongside a lack of investment in roads and poor public transport, the move was said to be slowing the country down.