More than half of voters want the government to step in to clear up Birmingham’s streets, a new poll has found.
Some 57% of those polled nationally said the government should get involved – rising to 67% among voters in the West Midlands.
Birmingham City Council last week declared a major incident to address the impact of the ongoing strikes, with contingency plans brought in to address the issue.
And ministers have visited the city – most recently Deputy PM Angela Rayner on Thursday, when she urged striking workers to end the “misery and disruption” and accept a pay deal.
But huge piles of uncollected rubbish continue to sit on the city’s streets and locals have reported seeing giant rats the size of cats in the waste.
The largest number of voters blamed Birmingham’s council for the dispute dragging on, followed by the UK government and the union in that order.
But voters don’t want bin collections to be privatise, with 63% of those polled saying councils are doing a good job on waste.
The survey by pollsters Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now also reveals national support for the strike by refuse collectors in Birmingham is not reflected in the West Midlands.
Nationally, 27% of voters support the strike, with just 18% opposing it. But in the West Midlands, some 36% oppose it, with just 22% in support.
Martin Baxter, CEO of Electoral Calculus, said: “The ongoing bin strike in Birmingham has clearly struck a nerve across the West Midlands, with more residents opposed to the strike than supportive of it.
“Remarkably, voters both in the West Midlands and nationally think the Labour government should step in to clear up Birmingham’s streets.
“While Keir Starmer probably didn’t dream of becoming the nation’s chief bin collector, the public’s appetite for government intervention might force that role upon him.”
BLUESKY: Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here. And follow our Mirror Politics team here – Lizzy Buchan, Mikey Smith, Kevin Maguire, Sophie Huskisson, Dave Burke and Ashley Cowburn.
POLITICS WHATSAPP: Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
NEWSLETTER: Or sign up here to the Mirror’s Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox.
PODCAST: And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell, hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
