Shadow Defence Minister Mark Francois has declared it is "not the job of the Army" to tackle Birmingham's bin crisis - hitting out at the "hopelessly mismanaged" City Council.
The city's overflowing bin crisis has become so severe that crews from neighbouring councils have been brought in to collect waste.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has also called in the British Army to assist with the crisis, with some being assigned to provide temporary "logistical support".
However, the strikes are set to continue for even longer after Unite Union rejected the council's "partial" deal, declaring it "inadequate".
Mark Francois has hit out at Angela Rayner for calling in the Army to deal with Birmingham's bin crisis
GB News / PA
Speaking to GB News, Mark Francois claimed it would be a "travesty" if the British Army were "dragged in" to help sort Birmingham's bins.
He fumed: "On the one hand, you've got an absolutely hopelessly mismanaged, bankrupt Labour council. And on the other side of the dispute, you've got an increasingly militant trade union in Unite, which happens to sponsor Angela Rayner.
"It would be a travesty if we dragged soldiers away from their loved ones over the Easter holidays in order to man bin lorries because Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, can't sort out an industrial dispute being led by the union that sponsors her in the first place."
Offering further defence for the Army, Francois made clear that it is "not their job" to "get Labour out of trouble", arguing that the move made by Rayner is "completely wrong".
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Some 21,000 tons of waste now lines the second city's streetsGETTYFrancois told GB News: "It's not the army's job to get Labour out of trouble. We've used the military in the past - for instance in 2014, we had a lot of flooding in the West Country. We called in the Army and the Marines.
"I don't think any reasonable person would object to using the military for those sorts of tasks, but using them to dig Labour out of a hole because they're in the middle of an embarrassing industrial dispute, I think would be completely wrong."
He added: "It would go down extremely badly with the troops and with their families - that's not what those guys and girls signed up for."
Delivering his verdict on further strike action, Francois warned that there could be strikes "across the country", akin to the "Winter of Discontent" in the 70s.
Francois told GB News that there is a potentially 'dangerous cocktail' if nationwide strikes go ahead
GB News
Francois concluded: "They've not ruled out using troops completely, but I think that would be a real mistake if they did that. And it's getting worse because Unite, as I understand it, turned down the latest deal, and they're now threatening to spread the strike to other parts of the country.
"In 1978 to 79, we had the Winter of Discontent and a massive upsurge of trade union militancy. We had a national bin strike across the country. For weeks, it was utterly miserable. Even then, Callaghan never called in the army. During that period, the grave diggers went on strike and the dead went unburied."
He added: "There are just the first hints of something like the Winter of Discontent, when another Labour Government lost all control of the trade unions.
"Rayner's passing an employment bill through Parliament that will give the trade unions more power, make it more easy for them to take militant action, and this is a really dangerous cocktail."
