Could Birmingham's Christmas lights switch-on be the latest victim of the energy bills crisis?

Multiple councils across the region have already axed Christmas plans as they prepare their budgets for soaring fuel costs.

But when asked whether Christmas and council services would go ahead as normal over the winter period, a representative for Birmingham City Council said: “The full extent at this very early stage is yet to be determined.”

Today at Birmingham City Council’s cabinet meeting, Council Leader Ian Ward declared a cost of living emergency, making Birmingham the first city across the UK to do so. Addressing the cabinet this morning, he said that despite measures such as the £1.3 million emergency top-up fund for struggling families and pensioners, which was introduced in May, and council tax rebates, the support is not enough.

He said: “Given the enormity of the challenge even the above measures will not be enough to fully mitigate the impact of the rising cost of energy, fuel at the pump and food in the supermarkets. Whilst we eagerly await the proposals of the new Prime Minister [Liz Truss, officially in post today], it is clear that the rise in the cost of living is not a momentary challenge but unfortunately will be with us for some time to come.”

And with the latest energy cap rising by 80 per cent, local councils are being forced to justify the cost of Christmas events.

Guildford, Devonshire and Cambridgeshire councils have already scrapped this year’s Christmas light switch on despite thousands of people attending the event every year. The councils said they could not justify spending thousands of pounds on the event.

A Birmingham Council representative said: “The council is committed to providing essential services and supporting our most vulnerable residents in these hugely challenging times. It is clear the situation with energy bills, inflation and the rising cost of living will have an impact across all sectors of society – and local government is no different.

“The full extent at this very early stage is yet to be determined, but as part of our robust financial management arrangements, the position is being closely monitored and will be reported in the usual way in the form of regular updates to the council’s Cabinet and will be addressed as appropriate via our budget-setting processes.”