Former Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood has branded the ongoing bin strikes in the city as "absolutely disgraceful" as an estimated 17,000 tonnes of waste remains uncollected across the UK's second largest city.
The strikes have been ongoing for weeks, leading to serious public health concerns with residents reporting rat infestations.
The situation has prompted Birmingham City Council to declare a major incident on Monday as the dispute between Unite union and the council continues.
The dispute began after the Unite union launched action in response to the scrapping of waste collection and recycling officer roles.
Former Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood blasted it as "absolutely disgraceful"
GB NEWS
Ex-Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, Khalid Mahmood told GB News: "As has already been said, this is a public health issue. It's untenable for the people of Birmingham to continue like this.
"It's absolutely disgraceful that we're in this position. I think the unions and the council should have sorted this out some time ago.
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"Part of the problem is that we've had commissioners, since Michael Gove appointed them almost three years ago, and the council is hamstrung in any discussions they have with the unions because they have to run these issues past the commissioners.
"What's behind all of this is the commissioners sitting there, completely detached from everything. They're not the ones being discussed in the press.
"So, until they give the go-ahead to move forward, nothing happens. Ministers coming yesterday were speaking to Birmingham people about how we need to get rid of these commissioners, give autonomy to Birmingham council to negotiate this, and move forward.
"This has to be dealt with now. Either you bring in the army and clear this rubbish out, because it is a serious public health issue, or you act swiftly.
"What definitely needs to happen quickly is for Birmingham council to be given the autonomy to negotiate this and for the commissioners to be completely removed from the city."
Birmingham's cabinet member for environment, Councillor Majid Mahmood, has provided a timeline for when the mountains of rubbish could finally be cleared.
He said: "Once we are able to get the 90 trucks out, it will take us a fortnight, possibly three or four weeks, to try and get us back to where we should be in terms of the delivery of the service for the people."
He added that after normal service is restored, "it'll take us at least three or four weeks to get the clean-up of the city as to where we want it to be."
Bins on Birmingham streets are attracting rats
GETTY
The council claims that daily blocking of its depots by pickets has prevented workers from getting vehicles out to collect waste, including the 90 that their contingency plan allows for.
The major incident declaration will initially increase the availability of street cleansing and fly-tip removal services. An additional 35 vehicles and crews will be deployed around the city.
Council leader John Cotton said that only by declaring a major incident and deploying the waste service's contingency plan would the council be able to clear the backlog.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has pledged to "defend Birmingham's refuse workforce to the hilt" and urged the council "to rethink this disastrous strategy".
