Government calls on union to accept deal and end Birmingham bin strike
The government has reiterated its call for the Unite union to accept a deal being offered by Birmingham city council to end the strike which has left the city with masses of uncollected refuse. The union has accused the council of repeatedly “shifting the goalposts”.
Business and trade minister Sarah Jones said “Fundamentally what needs to happen now is the strike needs to be called off. Unite need to accept the offer that’s on the table. It’s a good offer and that is what we are asking them to do.”
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, national lead officer at Unite Onay Kasab said “The fact is that the council have shifted the goalposts on several occasions. I think different political decisions need to be made. Why should working people be forced to pay the price for austerity? Why should our members pay the price for cuts to local authorities?”
He accused the council of attempting to harmonise pay downwards, and in an interview on Times Radio said “The offer from the council would still lead to a sharp, cliff edge drop in pay, up to £8,000 a year, for our members. They have told us in negotiations that they’re looking to cut the pay of drivers from around £40,000 to £32,000 a year.”
Speaking to the Birmingham Live website, one local resident who wished to remain anonymous said the union “keep rejecting stuff but nobody knows what they are rejecting”, adding “It’s not like they’re doing it on purpose, they probably live around here themselves. They can see it themselves. Their streets aren’t getting cleaned either.”
Another resident, Adam Yasin, said “It has been really bad, especially where I live, there are a lot of restaurants there. Today they collected the rubbish that was on the floor, so the bags that were on the floor, but the bins are still left. It’s more to do with hygiene on the streets. It’s annoying, and when the kids are there they like to touch things as well.”
Key events
Nigel Farage is out on the campaign trail today alongside another of Reform UK’s four MPs, Lee Anderson. The pair are due to make an appearance in Durham around noon, which with his typical flair for self-aggrandising publicity, Farage is billing as a “major speech”.
Presumably it will not stray far from the themes he outlined in an op-ed granted him by The Sun newspaper this morning: Britain is the best country in the world but also in terrible decline and awful to live in, the Conservatives are finished as a political force, Starmer is out of touch and “Keir Hardie would be turning in his grave” over this government, Reform UK are the one true working people’s opposition to Labour, and so on. We will bring you the key lines that emerge from that event.
PA Media analysis showed last week that Reform UK are fielding more candidates than any other party in the local elections in May, where they are expected to make gains. National polling has Labour, Reform UK and Conservatives closely bunched together with support in the range of low 20s. At the 2024 general election Reform UK had the third-largest vote share at 14% with over four million votes. You can find our guide to May’s council elections in some parts of England here.
Lammy: ‘morally wrong’ to give up trying for peace in Sudan
Foreign secretary David Lammy has said it is “morally wrong” to give up and turn away from the violence in Sudan, and committed the UK government to £120m worth of additional support.
Opening a conference on the topic at the Foriegn Office in London, he said he personally had “refused to turn away”, saying it was wrong for people to “conclude that further conflict is effectively inevitable” because of “the country’s fraught history.”
Lammy continued
Very simply, we have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in and across the country, and to put peace first. We all want to see Sudan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity upheld. We all want to see a united state with functioning institutions. We all want to see Sudan civilians protected, and the millions of displaced people able to return to their homes. This is a strong basis to agree the steps needed then to relieve the suffering and to end this awful war.
When I met with Sudanese refugees in Chad, I was frankly humbled by their resilience in the face of unimaginable trauma. They had not given up on their country, or the communities around them. For their sake we cannot resign ourselves to inevitable conflict. We cannot be back here one year from now having the same discussion.
Davey on UK-US trade deal prospects: Trump is ‘unreliable partner’
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has voiced his concerns about the prospect of a UK-US trade deal, which vice-president JD Vance earlier said he was hopeful of.
In a statement, Davey said:
It would be deeply undemocratic if parliament were to be sidelined on such a critical issue for the country. Conservative and Labour MPs should commit now to voting down any Trump deal that undercuts British farmers and their high food standards, sells out the NHS, or waters down protections for children online.
A good trade deal with the US could bring huge benefits, but Trump is an unreliable partner who breaks deals whenever he feels like it. He and his sidekick JD Vance must not be allowed to bully their way into a bad trade deal for the UK.
Davey is out campaigning in Cambridgeshire today. Yesterday he helped out at a barbecue and got driven around in a buggy while out visiting a farm in Oxford.
Foreign secretary David Lammy will be speaking in London soon at the opening of the Sudan conference at the Foreign Office. It is billed that he will attempt to “galvanise the international community to step up efforts to urgently end the violence” there, which has been ongoing for two years. We will bring you any key lines that emerge.
Scotland’s deputy first minister has commented on the latest unemployment data, which shows that employment and unemployment rates have both increased in the country.
Kate Forbes said there was still work to do to improve the resilience of the Scottish economy. She said:
These figures indicate that Scotland’s unemployment rate remains relatively low despite a challenging economic environment. However, difficulties persist for those who are economically inactive.
With the world changing around us, the UK Government needs to change, too, by revisiting its budget and taking action to create jobs and unleash Scotland’s economic potential.
The UK government can boost growth by pursuing closer trade ties with the EU and reversing the decision to raise employers’ national insurance contributions.
To build a more resilient economy, the first minister and I are working with business leaders to develop measures which create jobs and drive growth. These will be included in our forthcoming programme for government, which publishes on 6 May.”
Government calls on union to accept deal and end Birmingham bin strike
The government has reiterated its call for the Unite union to accept a deal being offered by Birmingham city council to end the strike which has left the city with masses of uncollected refuse. The union has accused the council of repeatedly “shifting the goalposts”.
Business and trade minister Sarah Jones said “Fundamentally what needs to happen now is the strike needs to be called off. Unite need to accept the offer that’s on the table. It’s a good offer and that is what we are asking them to do.”
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, national lead officer at Unite Onay Kasab said “The fact is that the council have shifted the goalposts on several occasions. I think different political decisions need to be made. Why should working people be forced to pay the price for austerity? Why should our members pay the price for cuts to local authorities?”
He accused the council of attempting to harmonise pay downwards, and in an interview on Times Radio said “The offer from the council would still lead to a sharp, cliff edge drop in pay, up to £8,000 a year, for our members. They have told us in negotiations that they’re looking to cut the pay of drivers from around £40,000 to £32,000 a year.”
Speaking to the Birmingham Live website, one local resident who wished to remain anonymous said the union “keep rejecting stuff but nobody knows what they are rejecting”, adding “It’s not like they’re doing it on purpose, they probably live around here themselves. They can see it themselves. Their streets aren’t getting cleaned either.”
Another resident, Adam Yasin, said “It has been really bad, especially where I live, there are a lot of restaurants there. Today they collected the rubbish that was on the floor, so the bags that were on the floor, but the bins are still left. It’s more to do with hygiene on the streets. It’s annoying, and when the kids are there they like to touch things as well.”
The byelection for the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse seat left vacant after the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie will take place on 5 June, Holyrood’s presiding officer has announced, PA Media reports.
McKelvie was on medical leave for treatment for secondary breast cancer when she died last month. The SNP has already announced councillor Katy Loudon as its candidate.
Just back on speculation about UK-US trade deal prospects for a second, earlier on the Today programme the BBC’s economics editor Faisal Islam described the UK as being in a “paradoxical” position with regard to US trade, and being on the receiving end of “two quite different messages” from the Donald Trump administration.
He said:
You’ve got the very warm message there from the US vice-president JD Vance about the prospects of a deal with the UK. But remember that the one sector, or one of the two sectors, where there are significant tariffs that have already been applied, 25% has been on automotives, and then the next in its sights is pharmaceuticals. And in terms of the data from last year, those were the two big goods exports from the UK to the US.
He then pointed out that where it had initially looked like the UK had been spared the worst of Trump’s unilateral tariffs – you will recall some people pointed to the rate being lower than that applied to the EU being described in some quarters as a “Brexit dividend” – that is no longer the case. The rowing back and pausing on tariffs for most countries means pretty much everybody is on the same base rate of a 10% tariff.
He told listeners:
So what is actually being negotiated in any talks between the UK and US? That 10% baseline tariff that now applies across the entire world, apart from China. Is that actually up for grabs in any way?
There are reasons to think it isn’t up for grabs. Because one of the reasons why you set a universal tariff is that you don’t want different countries to become areas where you could channel and then not pay the tariff.
The other thing just to watch out for is the UK is also engaged with the EU in a negotiation over things like food standards, and if, as the mood music seems to be, we align, we have a high alignment, high ambition deal … that is precisely the sort of thing that they [the US] notice in trying to do a deal.
Green party of England and Wales co-leader Adrian Ramsay is among politicians who this morning have called for the government to act more swiftly in passing its proposed Hillsborough law, as the 36th anniversary of the disaster is commemorated.
In a post to social media, Ramsay said “Today marks 36 years since the Hillsborough disaster. The inhumanity with which the state handled it was abominable. This government must keep its promise and deliver the Hillsborough law.”
Keir Starmer had initially said the legislation would be in process before today’s anniversary. Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby Ian Byrne has also posted to social media campaigning on the topic, reproducing the front page of today’s Liverpool Echo, where families of the victims have called on the government “Don’t let us down”.
The prime minister himself posted to social media to mark the occassion, reiterating that the government still intended to go forward with legislation. Starmer said:
Thirty-six years ago, we saw one of the greatest disasters in our history. A disaster that led to 97 people tragically losing their lives. Today, I pay tribute to them. In the years since, their families and loved ones have campaigned tirelessly to get justice. Despite all the challenges they have faced, they have kept fighting.
I promised to bring a Hillsborough Law before parliament, with a legal duty of candour for public authorities and public servants, and criminal sanctions for anyone who fails to comply. I will deliver on that promise.
After decades of injustice, we must get this legislation right. We must make sure it achieves what the people of Liverpool have spent the past thirty-six years fighting for.
Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, was killed at Hillsborough, said she could not “knock” the prime minister’s ambition for the legislation, even if she was “disappointed it’s not come out for the anniversary”. PA Media reports she added she did not want to see the legislation “watered down” in a rush to get it passed.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride, recently granted a knighthood in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list, has used social media this morning to criticise Rachel Reeves’ approach to government borrowing.
In a series of posts, the Central Devon MP said:
We are spending over £100bn a year on debt interest. It’s almost double what we spend on defence. That is totally unacceptable. People’s taxes are being poured down the drain on interest payments.
Before Covid debt was falling, but government had to spend huge amounts supporting the economy during the pandemic. And post-Covid, interest rates have risen due to inflation. That’s why the Conservatives left a plan in place to stop debt rising and start bringing it down.
Rachel Reeves said before the election that she would stick to that commitment to get debt falling.
He then criticised her for adjusting the definition of government “debt”, and suggested that she had put the government in a position where it was “vulnerable to even small changes in markets” which he described as “completely irresponsible”.
He finished by quoting Reeves saying “The responsible choice is to reduce our levels of debt and borrowing in the years ahead”, adding “I agree with Rachel. The problem is she doesn’t seem to agree with herself”. Stride was a government minister from 2015 until 2024.
