Excerpt:
A vote-rigger, a law student who questioned whether Isis existed and a councillor whose Facebook account shared an antisemitic video are fighting for seats on Birmingham council.
Europe’s largest local authority, with a £3 billion-a-year budget serving 1.1 million residents, is being reorganised to end an era of misrule. Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service who reviewed Birmingham’s governance in 2014, said the council’s shortcomings had “held the city back”.
Birmingham suffered the worst vote-rigging scandal for a century when Labour stole victory in the 2004 local elections, and its schools were accused of adopting hardline Islamic values during the Trojan horse affair. Ofsted has also reported serious failings in its children’s services, and a 222-day strike by refuse collectors left binbags stewn across streets.