Another US city goes bankrupt as Stockton faces huge debts

Stockton is to become the largest US city to file for bankruptcy, the seventh American municipality to do so this year.

A bankruptcy declaration by the Californian city of nearly 300,000, about 85 miles east of San Francisco, was expected as early as last night. It is more than $700m (£450m) in debt, having suffered from fiscal mismanagement over two decades and the collapse of its once booming housing market.

Stockton has cut more than $90m in spending in recent years and slashed its workforce, including a quarter of its police officers, despite a surge in violent crime. Deeper cuts to police payrolls would be intolerable, city council members said.