CASH-strapped Birmingham City Council is to spend almost £2,000 feeding councillors doing just three hours of work.

The authority asked whether the elected members could do without their tea at next month’s full meeting as just eight items are up for discussion and it is only scheduled to last from 2pm to 5pm.

But representatives of all three main political parties insisted they still needed to be fed on the public purse, despite the council agreeing to slash public services by £212 million earlier this year.

The cost of food and soft drinks for the Lord Mayor, 120 councillors, their guests and officials at the meeting is expected to be just under £2,000.

The councillors’ decision was condemned by the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers in Birmingham facing huge pressure on their family budgets, and doing everything they can to save money, will be disappointed that the council ignored such an easy opportunity to save thousands of pounds of their money.

“They want to see their cash spent on frontline services, not meals for councillors that many clearly believe they could have done without at a relatively short meeting.”