'Incompetent!' Corbynista MP blasts Keir Starmer over Labour's 'disgraceful' Birmingham bin strike failure

Birmingham was forced to declare a major incident on March 31 after 17,000 tonnes of waste was left on the streets.

The pile up comes after Unite union members staged an all-out strike on March 11 in a row over pay.

In a fiery exchange at Prime Minister's Questions, the Birmingham Perry Barr MP told Starmer: "This Labour Government has failed the British public at every turn. They have abandoned the Waspi women, leaving them without compensation they deserve.

"They have turned their backs on pensioners by failing to support the winter fuel allowance. They have let down children by keeping the two-child benefit cap in place, and they will inflict further hardship on the most vulnerable by slashing £5billion from benefits.

"But perhaps the most immediate and visible failure, one that poses an immediate and direct health risk to the people of Birmingham, is the appalling financial mismanagement of Labour-run Birmingham City Council.

"After more than a decade of Labour control, their incompetence has led to mountains of uncollected rubbish piling up on every street so far that it can be seen from satellites orbiting space.

"It is nothing short of a disgrace and a damning indictment of Labour's inability to govern. Will the Prime Minister take urgent action to protect the public health and the people of Birmingham?"

Responding to Khan's question, the Prime Minister said: "I've said the situation in Birmingham Council is completely unacceptable but he might want to tell his constituents that we've delivered two million extra appointments for the NHS, so waiting lists are coming down for his constituents; we've delivered the national living wage, a £1,400 increase, including for his constituents; we've got record investment into this country, growing the economy, including for his constituents."

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Despite Birmingham City Council being run by Labour since 2012, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner this morning blamed the previous Tory Government for the build up of rubbish and eventual declaration of a major incident.

Taking aim at the Tories, the Deputy Prime Minister told the BBC: “The bin collection in Birmingham is a wider and bigger issue, because under the previous government, Birmingham council went bust and issued a 114 notice.

“We’ve given Birmingham extra cash to support the difficult circumstances that they’re in and they’re taking action to tackle the long-standing equal pay claims that Birmingham council had.

“And they had over 10 years of austerity, they saw significant sums, billions of pounds, taken out of their budget and were not able to provide the most necessary of services. So we’re taking action to put local government on a better financial stabilisation after the 14 years of disaster that we’ve had.”

Starmer also swiped at the Tories when pushed on the Birmingham bin strike by Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch.

Pushing the Prime Minister, Badenoch said: “He doesn’t want to talk about Birmingham and that’s because he knows the situation, so I’ll say it again: 17,000 tonnes of rubbish on Birmingham’s streets. Normally a state of emergency is called for natural disasters, not Labour ones.

“His policies have left our economy dangerously fragile. The Chancellor once again left herself no room for manoeuvre. Economic experts, real economists, say she will either have to break her fiscal rules or put up taxes. Which will it be?”

However, Starmer quipped: “In relation to the situation in Birmingham, it is completely unacceptable. I fully support the council in declaring a major incident to resolve the situation and we will put in whatever additional support is needed.

“But when the party opposite was in Government, we lost more days to strike action than in any year since the 1980s. NHS workers were on the picket line, not the front line. That sent waiting lists through the roof. So we’ll take no lectures on industrial harmony from them.”