Birmingham bin strike: Talks to end the dispute resume
Talks to try to end the Birmingham bin strike that has seen piles of black rubbish bags fill the pavements of the city will resume today.
Mounds of waste remain uncollected, while residents have started to take matters into their own hands.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March, saying the “regrettable” move was taken in response to public health concerns, as picket lines were blocking depots and preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.
The all-out strike started on 11 March, but waste collections have been disrupted since January.
Here is everything you need to know.
From 20 April. Pic: PA
How long have workers been striking?
More than 350 workers of the Unite union began a series of walkouts in January and decided to escalate into indefinite strike action on 11 March, citing fear over further attacks on their jobs, pay and conditions.
The union has said that the removal of the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) role will leave about 150 workers £8,000 worse off – as the number of workers working on bin lorries will be reduced from four to three.
From 1 April: Workers on the picket line outside Birmingham waste depot
The council said it scrapped the WRCO role to put the city’s waste operations in line with national practice and to improve its waste collection service.
It said all workers have been offered alternative employment at the same pay, driver training or voluntary redundancy and that offer remains open.
Three military planners are understood to have been assigned to the city to provide logistical support to Birmingham’s council for a short period of time.
What are the impacts?
Normally, the city’s waste teams would make more than half a million collections in a week with 200 vehicles deployed over eight-hour daily shifts.
This has been reduced to just over 26,000 since the start of April, according to the latest council figures.
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From 14 April: Bin strikes clean-up could cost over £200m
The cost of the ongoing clean-up could cause even more damage to the council, which effectively declared bankruptcy in 2023. One waste management agency told Sky News that totally clearing the backlog could cost more than £200m.
The strike has become one of the longest the UK has seen in recent years.
Back in 1978-79, the winter of discontent led to rubbish piling up on the streets of London, as the waste collection industry joined other trade unions in demanding larger pay rises in response to government caps.
More recently, more than 200 bin workers in the Wirral went on a week-long strike in 2022, eventually securing a 15% pay rise. In the same year, a similar dispute over pay saw rubbish pile up in Edinburgh during the city’s busy festival season.
Overflowing bins on a street in Birmingham on 20 April
Pic: PA
Why is it taking so long to settle the dispute?
Unite, the union representing striking workers, and the city council have failed to reach an agreement since the strike began in March, with Unite holding firm on the strike action despite pressure from the government.
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Bin workers reject council offer
Members rejected the council’s latest offer on 14 April by 97% on 60% turnout, saying it was “totally inadequate” and did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers.
The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said the rejection was “no surprise” as “workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision”.
Meanwhile, the government and council said it was a “significantly improved” offer.
Tyseley Lane on 10 April
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons on 22 April, communities minister Jim McMahon said “significant progress” had been made in dealing with the remaining tonnes of rubbish.
He said through “a concerted effort” and with the assistance of other councils, private operators and workers, 26,000 tonnes of excess waste had been removed, and the levels were “approaching normal”.
Council leader John Cotton told Sky News’ Midlands correspondent Lisa Dowd on 16 April that it “pains” him to see pictures of mounds of rubbish and rats feeding off the mess being broadcast around the world.
He said the only way for the normal waste collection schedule to resume was for the strike to end – but added the cash-strapped council has “red lines” that it will not cross during negotiations.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner visited the city on 10 April and urged the union to end the “misery and disruption” by accepting a pay deal.
Angela Rayner ‘urged’ the union to accept the council’s deal
How have residents been affected?
Mounting rubbish has led to residents complaining of a risk to public health, with rotting food attracting foxes, cockroaches and rats.
Rashid Campbell, a local resident who is part of a volunteer litter-picking team from the Birmingham Central Mosque, told Sky’s Shamaan Freeman-Powell that 12 members of his team collected 24 bags of rubbish from two Birmingham streets on Easter Sunday.
“If we don’t [litter-pick], we’re just going to be drowning in rubbish,” he said.
Latifat Abdul Majed Isah said even in some places where bins have been taken away, the street remained “dirty, unpalatable and unpleasant to see”.
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Volunteers take action amid bin strikes
Joseph McHale, a rat-catcher from Vergo Pest Management, told Sky News at the beginning of April that discarded bin bags provide vermin with “somewhere to hide, somewhere to feed, somewhere to stay warm”.
He said his business had seen a 60% increase in people from Birmingham calling them for help.
By declaring a major incident, the council was able to free up an additional 35 vehicles and crews to clear rubbish and fly-tipping from the streets.
The limited number of waste trucks are deployed each morning from three depots across the city and cover multiple different routes.
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Examining Birmingham’s ‘rat super highway’
Residents are also able to dispose of household general waste and bulky items at the council’s mobile household waste centres, without prebooking.
To recycle household items, locals are required to book a slot at one of the council’s household recycling centres.
Could it spread to other areas?
The union’s general secretary has warned the strikes could “absolutely” spread to other areas.
“If other councils decide to make low-paid workers pay for bad decisions that they did not make, workers paying the price yet again, then absolutely, of course, we all have to take action in those other areas,” Sharon Graham told LBC.
The union’s national lead officer Onay Kasab agreed, telling BBC Four: “Well, if other local authorities look to cut the pay of essential public service workers, then there is the potential for strike action spreading.
“That’s why different political choices need to be made.”
Ms Graham also criticised the government, saying it had taken them “a huge amount of time to get involved in the dispute”.
About 100 firefighters are battling a blaze in a nine-storey building in London’s White City.
Fifteen fire engines are also in attendance at the building on Wood Lane, with the fire affecting floors towards the top of the building, the London Fire Brigade said.
The building is the old BBC Television Centre, which was the broadcaster’s headquarters until 2013.
Wood Lane is closed to traffic and people are advised to avoid the area.
First reports of the blaze were received just after 3am and crews from Hammersmith, North Kensington, Kensington, Chiswick and surrounding fire stations were mobilised to the scene.
Two 32-metre turntable ladders are being deployed as water towers to help extinguish the fire from height, the brigade said.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
In an update at around 6.40am, the fire brigade said the blaze is currently affecting floors towards the top of the building.
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David Lammy has been stripped of his role as foreign secretary, and given the job of justice secretary, along with the role of deputy PM.
Mr Lammy‘s move was one of the most momentous of Sir Keir Starmer‘s ministerial reshuffle on Friday afternoon, which saw a whole host of roles change hands, and two departments partially combined.
Politics latest: Follow for live updates
The PM moved him away from one of the great offices of state, despite his apparently burgeoning ‘bromance’ with US vice president JD Vance. But Mr Lammy benefited from Angela Rayner‘s departure.
David Lammy arrives in Downing Street following his appointment as deputy PM. Pic: PA
The deputy prime minister and housing secretary resigned from government on Friday morning, after it was found she had breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs. Sir Keir regretfully accepted her resignation, leaving her roles vacant.
Thus began the ministerial reshuffle, brought forward by several weeks as a result of Ms Rayner’s departure.
Mr Lammy has been given the role of deputy prime minister, and appeared cheery on Friday afternoon – strolling up Downing Street in the sunshine with a big smile on his face.
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David Lammy appointed deputy PM
His move from the Foreign Office to the Ministry of Justice then allowed Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to take on Mr Lammy’s previous job. She has never served in any role involving foreign affairs before, bar a three-month stint as shadow foreign secretary in 2010.
Her pivot to foreign affairs then allowed the biggest promotion of them all, with then justice secretary and key Starmer ally, Shabana Mahmood, being appointed as home secretary.
This means that for the first time in British history, all three great offices of state, after the prime minister, are held by women.
Shabana Mahmood arrives at Downing Street after being appointed home secretary. Pic: PA
With those roles rejigged, and Number 10 insisting from the start that Rachel Reeves was safe as chancellor, it was time to tinker with the rest of the cabinet.
It appears that while the reshuffle was carried out unexpectedly early, a lot of thought had gone into it.
Sir Keir began by creating a new ‘super ministry’, combining the skills remit of the Department for Education with the Department for Work and Pensions.
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Cooper appointed foreign secretary
Pat McFadden, on Friday morning the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (the highest ranking Cabinet Office minister), has been given responsibility for this new ministerial empire. It also means that Bridget Phillipson, who was and remains the education secretary, has had her responsibilities slimmed down.
Officially, Mr McFadden has become the work and pensions secretary. This meant the current occupant of that role, Liz Kendall, also needed to be reshuffled.
She has now been appointed as the science, innovation and technology secretary. Her predecessor in that role, Peter Kyle, in turn received a promotion to lead the Department of Business and Trade.
Peter Kyle has been promoted to business secretary
Pic: PA
Mr Kyle made incorporating and using AI a key part of his first year in office, and had been seen to be doing well in the job. His promotion, though, has led to the current business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, being left without a department.
While he remains in the cabinet, his appointment to the job of chief whip is unlikely to be viewed as a promotion.
The reshuffle brought better news for Darren Jones, who was only promoted on Monday to the newly created role of chief secretary to the prime minister.
He got to keep his role, but was gifted Mr McFadden’s old job – chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – to add to his growing political portfolio.
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Starmer’s effort to reset govt
Read more:
Cabinet reshuffle: Who’s in and who’s out
What a moment for Shabana Mahmood
Cooper picking up the reins at a challenging time
Steve Reed, another long-time Starmer ally, benefitted alongside Mr Lammy from Ms Rayner’s departure. He has been given her former role of housing secretary, leaving behind the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Also ending in a better position than they started off on Friday morning are Emma Reynolds, a Treasury minister who has now received Mr Reed’s old job, and trade minister Douglas Alexander, who has now become the Scotland secretary. Sir Alan Campbell, previously chief whip, has now become leader of the House of Commons.
On the other side of the spectrum, former leader of the Commons Lucy Powell, and ex-Scotland secretary Ian Murray, joined Ms Rayner in leaving the government. Both were sacked, and both made clear their desire not to lose their roles.
Sacked ministers Lucy Powell and Ian Murray.
Pic: PA
Ms Powell said it had been “an honour” to serve but warned that “the future of our democracy looks uncertain”, citing rising levels of “abuse, misrepresentation…. and the call for easy answers”.
Mr Murray also echoed this sentiment, stating that politics in the UK “is at a dangerous crossroads”. He called on MPs to bring “prosperity, hope and our communities together, rather than furthering division and despair”, and said he would support Sir Keir’s government from the backbenches.
Sir Keir Starmer has reshuffled his cabinet following Angela Rayner’s resignation after admitting she had not paid enough stamp duty on the purchase of a new home.
The prime minister’s former right-hand woman stepped down as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy leader of the Labour Party after standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus found she had breached the ministerial code.
Politics latest: Reshuffle after Rayner quits
She paid standard stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove, East Sussex, in May after taking advice that it counted as her only home due to her disabled son’s trust owning the family home in Ashton-under-Lyne – but it was established she should have paid more.
Her resignation has left a hole around the cabinet table, which Sir Keir is now filling.
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The rise and fall of Angela Rayner
It was stressed early on Chancellor Rachel Reeves would remain as chancellor, in an attempt to stop the markets moving.
Read more: The working class mum who left school at 16 and became deputy PM
This is who is moving and where to:
David Lammy – foreign secretary to justice secretary and deputy PM
After flexing his diplomatic muscles with Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance over the past year, Mr Lammy will now move to the justice brief.
The move is likely to be a blow as the PM had promised, most recently in November, he would be foreign secretary for the whole parliament until 2029.
Although he is no longer holding one of the four great offices of state, he has also been made deputy prime minister, presumably to soften the blow.
Mr Lammy is close to Sir Keir, both as a friend and in his next door constituency, and was seen grinning as he went into Number 10 after being appointed.
Yvette Cooper – home secretary to foreign secretary
The Labour stalwart had made tackling illegal migration a priority, so the move could be seen as a disappointment for her.
However, she remains in one of the four great offices of state – PM, chancellor, foreign and home.
Shabana Mahmood – justice secretary to home secretary
A big promotion, the straight-talking Labour MP will be tasked with tackling the small boats crisis and asylum seeker hotel protests.
She is no stranger to making difficult decisions, deciding to free criminals early to reduce prison overcrowding as justice secretary.
Her move makes it the first time all three great offices of state, after the prime minister, are held by women.
Pat McFadden – chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and intergovernmental minister to work and pensions secretary and head of “super ministry”
Often seen as Sir Keir’s “number two”, Mr McFadden will take over a newly formed “super ministry”.
It will include the department for work and pensions and the skills remit of the department for education – taking a large part of Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s brief and taking over from Liz Kendall as work and pensions secretary.
While it is not a promotion at first glance, it is a much wider role than he has had as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – the highest-ranking Cabinet Office minister after the PM.
Darren Jones – chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
It is the second new job in the space of one week for the new chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The close ally of the prime minister was promoted from chief secretary to the Treasury on Monday to chief secretary to the prime minister. And now he gets another new job.
Steve Reed – environment secretary to housing secretary
A promotion for the man who has consistently defended the government lifting inheritance tax relief on farmers.
He takes over one of the two major vacancies left by Ms Rayner and will have the massive task of building 1.5 million new homes during this parliament, as promised by the government.
Jonathan Reynolds – business and trade secretary to chief whip
A slightly odd move for the MP seen as a steady pair of hands in his business secretary role.
He takes over from Sir Alan Campbell and will now have to hustle Labour MPs to vote with the government – something that has sometimes proved difficult with the current cohort.
Mr Reynolds will also attend cabinet, as is necessary so he can liaise between the party and No 10.
Peter Kyle – science secretary to business and trade secretary
A promotion for Mr Kyle, who is taking over from Jonathan Reynolds.
He is seen as a rising star and impressed Labour MPs when he refused to stand down after suggesting Nigel Farage was on the side of people like Jimmy Savile by opposing the government’s online safety law.
Mr Kyle will be in charge of getting trade deals with other countries over the line.
Emma Reynolds – economic secretary to the Treasury to environment secretary
Probably the biggest promotion of the reshuffle, Ms Reynolds is taking on Mr Reed’s role after serving as a junior minister in the Treasury.
She will have to take on farmers and deal with the water companies – a big undertaking.
Liz Kendall – work and pensions secretary to science, innovation and technology secretary
Pat McFadden has taken her role as work and pensions secretary, while Ms Kendall takes over Peter Kyle’s brief.
He has made AI a major facet of his role so we will wait to see which direction Ms Kendall takes the job in.
Douglas Alexander – trade policy minister to Scotland secretary
A promotion for the Blair/Brown minister who returned to politics last year after being ousted in 2015 by then 20-year-old SNP MP Mhairi Black.
He takes over from Ian Murray, who has been removed from the cabinet.
Sir Alan Campbell – Chief whip to Lord President of the Council and leader of the House of Commons
An MP since 1997 and part of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s frontbench, Sir Alan is taking over Lucy Powell’s role.
He will be in charge of organising government business in the Commons – a sizeable job.
Who is out?
Lucy Powell has been sacked as leader of the House of Commons.
Ian Murray has been sacked as Scotland secretary.
Not out – but
Bridget Phillipson remains as education secretary but her brief has narrowed as Mr McFadden has taken over the skills part of her job.
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