The Reform UK group on Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) has launched a consultation asking residents which services should be protected and what areas should be cut in an alternative budget being prepared.

SMBC's finances have been under the spotlight in recent years with the ruling Conservative administration agreeing a rise of 4.99 per cent to council tax in February.

That rise is the maximum a council can implement without holding a referendum or seeking an exemption through emergency support from government.

As the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported in February Andy Felton, the council's director of resources, warned the council will need to seek permission under exceptional financial support to increase council tax by up to 9.99 per cent in both 2027/28 and 2028/29, due to the financial challenges.

Councillors have clashed frequently in the chamber over this, with council leader Karen Grinsell saying they would "explore every option" to address the financial challenges.

In May's local elections Reform UK became the second largest group and now it has announced work has begun on a full alternative budget with a survey launched on Reform UK group leader Samantha Gethen's webpage.

The survey asks respondents to pick three areas to protect from 'potential reduction' from various options which include bin collections, adult social care, children's services, homeless support and libraries.

The second question asks 'Which of these would you support the council cutting or reducing first?

The list of options for that question includes senior management pay and bonuses, councillor allowances, external consultants, council reserves (being spent instead of growing them) and commercial ventures such as Mell Square shopping centre.

Cllr Gethen said: "Solihull residents are being softened up for a council tax rise of almost 10 per cent, not once, but two years running.

"Before a single extra penny is taken from hard working families and pensioners in this borough, the council needs to prove it has found every possible saving first.

"We do not believe it has.

"That is why we are doing the work ourselves.

"We will go through the council's books line by line, working constructively with officers, and we want residents to help us do it.

"Nobody knows this borough better than the people who live here."

Reform UK said the alternative budget will be published ahead of the council's budget setting process.

The move comes at a time Reform UK's record in charge of other local councils has been put in the spotlight.

On a BBC radio round on September 1 deputy leader Richard Tice MP was asked why Reform UK-led councils had raised council tax, with presenters suggesting the party had given the impression it would do the opposite in election leaflets.

Tice disputed that insisting its party's councillors had shown they were "financially prudent", adding the party was "doing a good job of getting to grips with wasteful spending".