Birmingham residents have declared that "third world countries are better" than their city as thousands more bin bags line their streets.
As the Unite Union strike against waste collection reaches its fifth week, locals are becoming increasingly infuriated by the state of their city, claiming it is "disgusting".
Speaking to GB News reporter Jack Carson, residents of Hodgehill in Birmingham branded the council "incompetent", with one man claiming they are failing to resolve the issue "on purpose".
Expressing her outrage, one lady told GB News: "I'm absolutely furious. This has been going on for many, many weeks now, a couple of months.
Birmingham residents have hit out at the 'incompetent' council as waste is still piling up on their streets
GB News
"I shouldn't have to be paying council tax, making my way to empty bins when there's a service that's provided to do that."
In a direct attack on Birmingham City Council, another resident claimed that the authority "hasn't learned its lesson" from a similar situation "seven or eight years ago", and they are simply "incompetent".
He stated: "I think it's disgusting. It's been going on well over a month or so now.
"It happened about seven or eight years ago, and the council hasn't learned and the electorate hasn't learned.
"Clearly people are electing the same old people who are incompetent and they don't really care about the local community or the city."
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Bins are continuing to pile up on the city's streets as strikes reach their fifth week
GB News
A third local told GB News that the council's lack of determination to end the strikes is "all a game plan", declaring that "third world countries" are better than their city right now.
He fumed: "It's all a game plan. This is just training the public to do it. They're doing it on purpose, slowly for weeks, this is just training for the future.
"It is diabolical - third world countries are better."
21,000 tonnes of litter and rubbish has now been left uncollected due to the strikes, which are in their fifth week. Negotiations are still continuing between Birmingham City Council and Unite Union.
Birmingham residents expressed their fury at the ongoing strikes
GB News
Delivering their verdict on the negotiations, Unite claimed the talks were "intensive", while Birmingham City Council called them "productive" - but no agreement has been reached so far.
The MP for Hodge Hill and Solihull North, who's also chair of the business and trade committee, Liam Byrne, has been in Japan for a fact finding mission with seven other MPs at the end of last month.
However, he has since stayed out there for a personal trip. A spokesperson for Liam Byrne claimed that "part of the private trip is personally funded".
