Councillor Sam Forsyth was the sole voice of dissent as Birmingham City Council’s majority Labour members met to pass a Budget full of swingeing cuts
Rebel councillor Sam Forsyth has defied the city council’s Labour leadership and voted against its Budget.
The potential impact of an increased ‘rat tax’ on Birmingham’s poorest families left her ‘no choice’ but to reject her political group’s budget proposals, she told BirminghamLive.
Anti poverty campaigner Councillor Forsyth, a barrister, who represents Quinton, was the only one of Labour’s 59 members present at the vote, out of 63, to defy the whip.
The Budget, including £149m of savings, job losses, a 7.49% council tax hike and more asset sales, was passed by the majority Labour group this afternoon (Tuesday March 4). Alternative budgets proposed by Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens were rejected. It marks a second year of major cuts across the city since the council declared its de facto bankruptcy in 2023.
Speaking afterwards, Cllr Forsyth said her decision was based on her belief that imposing charges on families to get rid of rat infestations was ‘completely unpalatable’. “I thought it was an extremely bad, shortsighted idea, particularly as we are in the middle of a bin strike.
“I didn’t come into politics to make life any harder for poor people, because I know what that is like.
“That is what I experienced growing up. Maybe because I experienced rats around growing up, that is why this is so important to me.
“Life is about compromise but this was one thing I couldn’t compromise on. Rats frighten people, they carry diseases, people are uncertain what to do, and it’s just not something we should be lax about.”
She had made her views known inside the group and the leadership was aware she intended to vote against the Budget, she said.
“We have a problem with pest infestations in our streets and housing.
“What concerns me is the charge itself (£24) while of itself might not be a lot to some, but the people for example who use Quinton food bank, it could be the difference between choosing food or rat control, and well, they couldn’t pay it.
“What we have then is a perfect storm of people trying to deal with the problem themselves, not being able to deal with that problem, finding information on what to do on internet or a hardware store…and it gets worse, and they don’t ask for help until it’s a lot worse.
“It’s just shortsighted and it hits the poorest most.”
Councillor Forsyth, elected in 2022, is current chair of the council’s licensing and public protection committee. Her punishment for defying the leadership will likely include the suspension of the Labour whip and her removal as committee chair, a role that carries a special responsibility allowance.
She said she felt it was ‘a price worth paying’ despite enjoying her role. “The first job of a council is to protect the public and I don’t think this charge does that.”
She has previously said she opposed the introduction of the rat charges last year and her position ‘has not changed’ but her conviction against it had. “For what I hope are obvious reasons, nobody wishes to see this city overrun with rats.”
READ MORE: Everything we know as all-out Birmingham bin strike looms
She said she accepted that the rat tax seemed ‘an odd hill to die on’ given all the other services also under threat, but feared it would directly impact the most vulnerable.
Council tenants are protected from the charge, first introduced last year. But plenty of poor and struggling residents live in dubious private housing conditions, while rats in the streets don’t discriminate.
Cllr Forsyth said she does not intend to stand in the next city council election in 2026.
She is one of several sitting Labour members who have said they do not intend to seek to represent the party next May.
A list of others who did not submit their applications to stand ahead of a deadline imposed by the Labour party includes stalwarts Sir Albert Bore and Liz Clements.
There is currently a £24 charge for the council’s rat treatment service and a review under way intends to raise the fee to £26.40.
At a recent meeting, Sajeela Naseer, director of regulation and enforcement at the council, said the service had been costing the authority around £400,000 to deliver free. After its introduction last year, there had been a drop off in the use of pest control services, she said.
Cllr Forsyth has been a passionate speaker in the council chamber on a range of topics including the spectre of child poverty and the impact of criminal driving on devastated families.
In her maiden speech in the chamber she spoke about the horrific abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of a cruel stepfather.
In a debate in the Council Chamber in 2022 she told a hushed meeting: “I was seven when I was taken to live in a Women’s Aid refuge by my mum, she’d finally had enough of being a punch bag.
“She broke when my stepfather pushed me down a flight of stairs.”
The violence she endured left her with a lifelong disability, and she later voluntarily went into care. Today she is a barrister and represents women who are in similar circumstances to the one her mother endured.
She said she decided to stand for the council in 2022 because her political views aligned with Labour and she was keen to ‘make a difference’. “I grew up in inner city Handsworth and it was tough. I was very fortunate, the city council gave me a grant to study law, and if I hadn’t had that, I don’t know where I would be.
“I became a barrister, and I thought it was time to pay back. I’ve lived in this city all my life, and the city has been good to me, and that opportunity to go to bar school transformed my life.”
She added: “You don’t forget where you come from, and you should never forget, neither should you leave people behind or subject them to things that limit their opportunities.”
She said being a councillor through a period of extreme financial crisis had not ‘soured’ her experience, adding: “The council I joined was in a very difficult position because of the austerity that was imposed on us by the last Tory government, we have had swingeing cuts, and it is always difficult to make any budget balance.”
Labour leader Cllr John Cotton has previously said that the rat charges would be kept under review.