A plan to add additional charges to hotel rooms in Birmingham to help fund the city's hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games is still in the pipeline despite the Government expressing doubts about the idea.
Birmingham City Council is pushing ahead with its attempts to convince the Government to let it impose the so-called 'hotel tax' which would see £1 added to every hotel room booking per night between now and the games.
If the council is not allowed to introduce the new levy, it will have to find the entire £184.7 million it has promised to contribute towards the preparations for the games on its own.
Supporters of the hotel tax say it could raise an additional £15 million between now and the start of the sporting spectacle in July 2022 which is expected to cost £778 million in total.
A sticking point for the authority is the fact it cannot force anyone to pay the additional charge and would require legislation for it to be implemented.
Last year, it attempted to achieve this through an amendment to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill, a set of laws introduced by the Government.
West Midlands-based members of the House of Lords sympathetic to the council tried to introduce amendments that would have allowed the additional charge to be imposed.
They included Jeff Rooker, the former Labour MP for Perry Barr, who told the House of Lords: "We could use this bill to ring-fence a tax for Birmingham and Solihull, as the local authorities that will be most affected, although there are hotels in Sandwell as well.
"If the Government used this bill to pilot a hotel occupancy tax for ring-fenced money for the Commonwealth Games and put a time limit on it, after the Games we could look at how it worked and review the impact and effectiveness of the tax."
Also backing the idea are the Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt Rev David Urquhart, former West Bromwich East MP Lord Snape and Lord Cashman, the former West Midlands MEP.
But Government Minister Lord Ashton said: "It is not quite as straightforward as some people may think.
"Tourism in this country pays a much higher rate of VAT than our competitors in Europe."
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: "We, along with our games partners, are focused on ensuring Birmingham 2022 both delivers a strong and lasting positive legacy as well as value for money.
"There is a clear desire from a number of local authorities for councils to be given revenue-raising powers, as illustrated by a Core Cities campaign calling for a national debate on the issue.
"The council continues to consider and discuss these options with the Government.
"We are aware that Edinburgh is close to securing consent to trial such powers so we are keen for the Government to consider giving Birmingham City Council similar powers on a trial basis, ring-fenced for the Commonwealth Games."
