伯明翰在 2022 年市议会选举中，工党曾以接近三分之二席位的明显多数执政，但在 5 月 7 日的地方选举中，没有任何政党拿到四分之一以上席位；在 136 个参加投票的英格兰地方议会中，如今有 64 个没有多数党，高于此前的 41 个。泰斯利和海耶米尔斯一位议员甚至只凭 20% 的得票率当选，显示政治碎片化已接近随机化。

这座城市的治理危机与财政和公共服务失灵交织在一起：2023 年市议会宣布财政危机，部分原因是女性员工的同工同酬索赔；新的 IT 系统失败；垃圾工人罢工已持续一年多；居民还承受了大幅税收上涨。伯明翰曾在 1890 年被《哈珀斯》称为“世界上治理最好的城市”，但如今却被描述为英国治理最差的地方之一。

伯明翰也折射出更广泛的英国趋势：人口外流与族群变化并未自动转化为稳定政治，反而加剧了身份与代表性冲突。尽管 2024 年布里斯托大学的研究认为这座城市整体上正在变得“较少族群隔离”，但新兴联盟仍然难以形成，因为几乎没人愿意与改革党合作，工党也不愿结盟，而在数学上可行的保守党、绿党和自由民主党组合又受到全国政治的掣肘。

Birmingham’s 2022 city-council election gave Labour nearly two-thirds of the seats, but on May 7 no party won as much as one-quarter of the vote; among 136 English local councils that voted, 64 now lack a majority party, up from 41 before. In Tyseley and Hay Mills, one councillor was elected with only 20% of the vote, showing fragmentation so severe that outcomes can look almost random.

That governance crisis is tied to financial and service breakdown: in 2023 the council declared a financial crisis, partly because of equal-pay claims, a new IT system failed, refuse workers have been on strike for more than a year, and residents have faced sharp tax rises. Once praised by Harper’s in 1890 as “the best-run city in the world,” Birmingham is now described as one of Britain’s worst-governed places.

Birmingham also reflects wider British trends: demographic change and population movement have not produced political stability, but have instead sharpened conflicts over identity and representation. Although a 2024 University of Bristol study found the city is becoming less ethnically segregated overall, coalition building remains difficult because almost nobody will work with Reform, Labour is reluctant to join any alliance, and the numerically possible Conservative-Green-Liberal Democrat option is constrained by national politics.

Source: Britain’s second-biggest city goes from dysfunctional to worse

Subtitle: Once the best-governed city in the world

Dateline: 5月 21, 2026 03:19 上午 | BIRMINGHAM