A long-running strike by bin workers, that has left rubbish piling up on Birmingham’s streets, will continue after union members “overwhelmingly rejected” the city council’s offer in a fresh ballot.
The action by members of Unite, which began on 11 March as part of a dispute over pay, has seen thousands of tonnes of rubbish go uncollected and warnings of a public health emergency.
Hundreds of workers have been on all-out strike for a month, and residents have complained about “rats as big as cats”.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner visited Birmingham last week and called on the union to accept a “significantly improved” deal for workers.
Image: Pic: Reuters
However, the union said hundreds of its members had rejected the “totally inadequate” offer.
The offer, if it had been accepted, would have included “substantial pay cuts for workers” and “did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers”, according to Unite.
Unite has been campaigning against plans to cut the post of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) from the city’s refuse and recycling service.
The union claims it will lead to around 150 of its members having their pay cut by up to £8,000 a year.
But the council has disputed the figures, saying only 17 workers will be affected, losing far less than Unite is claiming.
Local government minister Jim McMahon said the union’s rejection of the pay offer will be “deeply disappointing for Birmingham residents who have already endured weeks of disruption”.
“There is a fair and reasonable offer on the table and I would urge Unite to end the strikes and return to talks to reach the resolution that is fair to the workers and residents of the city,” he added.
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1:26
‘The bin strike has been good for us’
‘Rejection of the offer is no surprise’
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “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.”
Unite national lead Onay Kasab told Sky News: “The proposal from the employers was completely and utterly inadequate.It still included a pay cut. It included a sharp cliff-edge drop in pay for our members.
“Unfortunately, the biggest thing about the proposal was what it didn’t include. It didn’t include the details of how and when the drivers are going to have their pay cut and what’s going to be done to mitigate that. It didn’t include issues around what happens if people finish their training and there are no vacancies for them.
“But what it did show up was this so-called figure of only 17 people being impacted is complete and utter nonsense. The proposal itself, that we’ve got in paper, impacts more than 17 people.”
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Wendy Morton, a Conservative MP whose Aldridge-Brownhills constituency is in the Walsall borough, said rats in Birmingham – labelled Squeaky Blinders – “must be dancing in the streets”.
She said: “This really shows yet again Labour-led Birmingham Council and this Labour government are failing residents and our region.
“They need to get a grip, stop blaming others, and face the unions – their paymasters. The Squeaky Blinders must be dancing in the streets.”
Rats have been seen scurrying around mounting piles of rubbish, food waste and bin bags outside homes, shops and restaurants in the city since the strike began.
‘It has been really bad’
A Birmingham resident whose car was wrecked by rats in a street where piles of rubbish were “as tall as” him is “disappointed” bin workers have rejected the council’s offer.
Adam Yasin, 33, from the Balsall Heath area of the city, said: “It’s more to do with hygiene on the streets. I take my son to the nursery and I use a specific street and honestly it was blocked. It’s just annoying, and when the kids are there they like to touch things as well.”
He said his Mercedes was “completely written off” just weeks ago because rats had chewed through wires in the engine.
He said: “It has been really bad, especially where I live, there are a lot of restaurants there. I swear there was a pile (of rubbish) as tall as me, I kid you not.
“Today they collected the rubbish that was on the floor, so the bags that were on the floor, but the bins are still left.”
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Rayner urges Unite to suspend bin strikes
What has the council said?
Birmingham City Council said: “It is incredibly disappointing, that despite several weeks of extensive negotiations, Unite have rejected a second offer of settlement. However, our door remains open.
“The council must deliver improved waste services for our citizens – who simply deserve better.
“We must also guard against future equal pay claims, and while we have sought throughout the negotiations to protect pay for individuals, Unite’s proposals focus solely on retaining a role that does not exist in other councils and represents an equal pay risk for Birmingham.
“We have made a fair and reasonable offer and every employee affected by the removal of the WRCO role could take an equivalent graded role in the council, LGV Driver training or voluntary redundancy packages.”
Amid an “ongoing public health risk” posed by the mounds of waste, the planners have been assigned to provide logistical support for a short period. The move has not involved soldiers being deployed to collect rubbish.
‘Army logistics deployed’
Ms Rayner insisted there were “no boots on the ground”.
She said “we’ve deployed a couple of army logistics to help with the logistical operation of clearing up the rubbish”.
“We’ve got over two-thirds of the rubbish cleared off the streets now, this week we’ll start to see cleaning up the pavements and streets as well as the clearance of all of that rubbish, I’m very pleased about that. The kids are off school, obviously it’s Easter holidays, we want that rubbish cleared.”
Waste collections have been disrupted since January, before the all-out strike started last month.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March in response to public health concerns.
Police are investigating an alleged attack on a prison officer by Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana on Thursday, Sky News understands.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Police are investigating an attack on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh yesterday.
“Violence in prison will not be tolerated and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hardworking staff.”
Rudakubana is serving life in jail for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year.
According to The Sun, Rudakubana poured boiling water over the prison officer, who was taken to hospital as a precaution but only suffered minor injuries.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.
Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.
It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help.
Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.
“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.
She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.
“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.
“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’
“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”
Image: Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.
Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.
Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.
Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.
It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.
According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.
Image: Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to seek help
Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.
In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.
“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.
“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”
Image: Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS
In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.
“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.
“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.
“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”
Image: Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS
Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.
“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”
Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.
“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”
Image: Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS
“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”
Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.
Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.
Image: Bleeding in Kerry’s eye
“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.
“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”
The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.
Image: Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.
Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”
Image: Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.
“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.
“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”
Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.
He will be sentenced in July.
If you suspect you are being abused and need to speak to someone, there are people who can help you.
Two men have been found guilty of cutting down the famous Sycamore Gap tree that stood for more than 150 years.
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were convicted of causing more than £620,000 worth of damage to the tree and more than £1,000 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.
On 27 September 2023, the pair drove 30 miles through a storm to Northumberland from Cumbria, where they both lived, before felling the tree overnight in a matter of minutes.
Image: The Sycamore Gap tree before it was cut down. Pic: CPS
The pair each denied two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it, but were convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday.
The Sycamore Gap tree sat in a dip in the landscape and held a place in pop culture, featuring in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
It also formed part of people’s personal lives, as the scene of wedding proposals, ashes being scattered and countless photographs.
Image: Adam Carruthers. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
In the clip, the sound of a chainsaw can be heard, and the silhouette of a person can be seen, before the trunk eventually tumbled.
The footage was shot on Graham’s iPhone 13, with the metadata providing the coordinates of the tree.
Part of tree kept as ‘trophy’
Over the course of the trial, the pair blamed one another, but the prosecution argued they were both responsible for what the court heard was a “mindless act of vandalism”.
As well as the video footage of the felling, an image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone.
Image: Adam Carruthers (R) and Daniel Graham (L) worked together felling trees. Pic: CPS/PA
Image: An image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone. Pic: PA
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told the court: “This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.”
Voice notes played in court
The jury was also played voice notes the pair had sent one another, commenting on the media coverage the incident was receiving.
In one of them, Graham, 39, said to 32-year-old Carruthers: “Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like News News News”, before adding: “I think it’s going to go wild.”
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0:34
Sycamore Gap seeds saved
Another piece of evidence was a photo of the defendants felling a different tree, about a month before the Sycamore Gap was cut down.
The prosecution said Graham, who owned a groundworks company and Carruthers, who worked in property management and mechanics, were “friends with knowledge and experience in chainsaws and tree felling”.
From the beginning, much of the trial focused on the significance of the tree, with Judge Mrs Justice Lambert telling the jury to put their “emotion to one side” before proceedings began.
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0:42
Voicenotes from Sycamore Gap tree trial
‘Mindless acts of violence’
Northumberland Superintendent Kevin Waring, of Northumbria Police, said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals”.
Graham and Carruthers gave no explanation for why they targeted the tree, he said, “and there never could be a justifiable one”.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Susan Dungworth, called the felling of the tree “unfathomable” and said, although “there was no remorse [from the defendants], there was compelling evidence, and now there will be justice”.
Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor for CPS North East, said Graham and Carruthers took “under three minutes” to bring down the “iconic landmark” in a “deliberate and mindless act of destruction”.
She said she hoped the community “can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted”.
‘Enormity of the loss’
Reflecting on the verdict and the actions of the pair, Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Parks Authority, said: “It just took a few days to sink in – I think because of the enormity of the loss.
“We knew how important that location was for many people at an emotional level, almost at a spiritual level in terms of people’s connection to this case.”
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The tree’s stump still sits by Hadrian’s Wall, where new shoots have been emerging.
Its largest remaining section will go on display at the National Landscape Discovery Centre in the Northumberland National Park later this year.
The effort to preserve the tree’s legacy also goes beyond the region where it stood.
Forty-nine saplings taken from the tree have been conserved by the National Trust. They will be planted in accessible public spaces across the country as “trees of hope”, which will allow parts of the Sycamore Gap to live on.
The defendants, who didn’t react when the verdicts were delivered, will be sentenced in July.