A little local difficulty: how Birmingham's binmen spooked No 10

As bin bags continue to pile up on the city's streets, James Tapper talks to the council leader and workers at the heart of the dispute

- James Tappe

Suhail Sadiq's car repair business is thriving and he's furious about it.

The rats are responsible. "The amount of cars we've got coming in now with wiring chewed up by rats is unbelievable," he says. Staff at Heartlands Auto Centre in Birmingham have repaired about 15 cars with chewed battery cables in the past week. The rats are drawn to the warmer cars at night, he says rats gnaw to keep their teeth a manageable length.

Sadiq would be much happier to go without the extra business if the inner city streets of Small Heath and Alum Rock were not strewn with bin bags and overflowing wheelie bins - because Birmingham city council's refuse collectors have been on strike for nearly four weeks. "Why should we be dragging our bins across Birmingham?" Sadiq says. "The whole council from top to bottom should be fired. We're not in a third world country. We're in England."

His views, and those of many Brummies who blame the council, seem to have spooked Labour in the buildup to England's local election campaign, and sparked a row between Keir Starmer and trade union Unite.

Downing Street said the union should "focus on negotiating in good faith" and "drop their opposition", prompting Unite's general secretary, Sharon Graham, to hit back saying it was "not surprising that many workers in Britain question the Labour government's commitment to working people" for blaming bin workers for the dispute. Last night Angela Rayner held a summit with council leaders to try to solve the crisis.