Communities paying price for austerity years, insists mayor

THE bashing of Birmingham over the bin strike by people 'feigning a passion for the city' and conjuring up 'sound-bites, not rolling up their sleeves' must end, the region's mayor said.

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Richard Parker said he was frustrated by people engaged in 'media stunts' and proferring 'quick fixes' when the strike was rooted in 'over a decade of austerity cuts.

He spoke as pressure mounted on the city to resolve the all-out strike.

Mr Parker, a former Labour Party official turned politician, insisted the strikes were not a “localised failure” based on problems unique to Birmingham, but part of the wider demise of local authority funding.

He said in interviews that the build-up of rubbish was the consequence of being “asked to do more with less” and there was “no point pretending otherwise”.