Birmingham City Council's political leadership has been accused of failing to grasp the full scale of change needed to turn the authority around, a scathing letter from the council's improvement panel stated.

In a letter to secretary of state Greg Clark, the chair of Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel, John Crabtree, said: ‘While the panel commends the energy and commitment demonstrated by the chief executive and his team, there remain questions about whether the senior political leadership of the council fully understands the scale of change required.