‘Rats must be dancing in the street’: MP says as misery in Birmingham continues as union rejects pay offer
15 April 2025, 00:12 | Updated: 15 April 2025, 10:06
A Tory MP has said the "Squeaky Blinders must be dancing in the street", after a Tory councillor called for a 'public health emergency' to be called in the city as a result of the strike.
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A Tory councillor in Birmingham told LBC News that "there needs to be a public health emergency declared in the city" as strikers vote to reject a 'totally inadequate' pay offer.
Councillor Timothy Huxtable told LBC News's James Hanson that the situation in Birmingham is 'insufferable'.
It comes after bin workers in Birmingham 'unanimously' voted to reject a 'totally inadequate' offer from the city council aimed at ending the long-running strike over pay, union Unite said.
The action, which began on March 11, has seen thousands of tonnes of rubbish go uncollected and warnings issued of a public health emergency.
Wendy Morton, the Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills, in the Walsall borough, said the rats in Birmingham "must be dancing in the streets".
"This really shows yet again Labour-led Birmingham Council and this Labour government are failing residents and our region," she told Sky News.
"They need to get a grip, stop blaming others, and face the unions - their paymasters. The Squeaky Blinders must be dancing in the streets."
Squeaky Blinders, a play on the popular Birmingham-based tv series, is used to refer to the rats that have been seen scurrying around the city as a result of the bin workers' strike.
Meanwhile, Mr Huxtable told LBC News: "My constituents, residents all across Birmingham are just dismayed that this bin strike will continue.
Union 'overwhelmingly' rejects council's offer to end bin strikes
"It's been an all out strike for the last five weeks, but it actually started right at the beginning of the year. So we're in the 15th week of the industrial dispute."
The councillor blamed the Labour-held City Council's leadership for the continuing bin strike and the difficulties in reaching a deal with the union.
Read more: More misery in Birmingham as union 'overwhelmingly' rejects council's offer to end bin strikes
"There's been a complete lack of political leadership. When they have taken actions, it's all been too little, too late," he said.
"There are many things that they could have done and still could do to try and mitigate the effects of it, but they just haven't done it."
Mr Huxtable called for a public health emergency to be called in the city, and for the striking workers to be protected from harassment and intimidation.
He told James Hanson: "The leadership have to show leadership, they have to declare a public health emergency, they have to protect those bin workers from harassment and intimidation if they wish to continue to work, as many do.
"And they just have to get this sorted. But more importantly is that they've been offered help by Conservative controlled councils."
He added: "My understanding is from the leadership that the City Council haven't even bothered to reply to those, to those offers of help in order to clear our streets of fly tipping and rubbish, which are just mounting up."
He also blamed the Labour leadership for Birmingham going bankrupt, saying "this bin dispute is a direct consequence of their own mess."
He added: "The only councils that have gone bankrupt is because they themselves have made disastrous decisions.
"And in terms of Birmingham, it's either been equal pay, it's been the athletes village for the Commonwealth Games that didn't host a single athlete, or it's the failed Oracle computer system that they put in.
"So a result of all three failures by the current Labour leadership have led to the bankruptcy and have led to this bin dispute."
Unite said the deal their members 'overwhelmingly' rejected would have included 'substantial' pay cuts for workers and did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "For weeks, these workers have faced attacks from government and their employer pushing the lie that only a handful of workers are affected by the council's plans to cut pay by up to £8,000.
"Instead of peddling untruths about these low paid workers and focusing on winning a media war, the government should have taken the time to check facts and used its office to bring the council to the table in a meaningful way.
"The rejection of the offer is no surprise as these workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision."
LBC callers react to Birmingham bin strike
Military personnel helping Birmingham City Council with its response to the city's bin strike have "operational planning expertise", Downing Street has said.
"The residents of Birmingham are our first and foremost priority," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.
"That's why we've provided a number of staff to support the council to help get the streets cleaned up and address the public health risks.
"This includes co-ordinating the local response with local authorities, providing additional vehicles and crews, and opening household waste centres to Birmingham residents and, as set out over the weekend, a handful of office-based military personnel are supporting operational planning and have made themselves available to the council to support.
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"And as the Deputy Prime Minister (Angela Rayner) has said, we are now urging Unite to suspend its action and accept the offer that is on the table."
He said the recruits were "purely office-based military personnel with operational planning expertise", with "no plans" to bring in front-line personnel to help the authority.
The spokesman added that more than 100 vehicles had left depots on Monday morning, with 12,500 tonnes of waste cleared since April 4.
