Labour councillors in Birmingham enjoyed free trips to the ballet, Champions League football and fine dining - as rubbish piled high across the city during bin strike

Labour councillors in Birmingham enjoyed free trips to the ballet, Champions League football and fine dining - as rubbish piled high across the city during bin strike By JACINTA TAYLOR Published: 00:54 BST, 6 April 2025 | Updated: 00:54 BST, 6 April 2025 e-mail View comments Labour councillors in Birmingham have been piling up the freebies – as rubbish piles high across the city due to a month-long bin strike. With rats ‘as big as cats’ plaguing neighbourhoods and three million wheelie bins’ worth of waste rotting on the streets, council leaders enjoyed trips to the ballet, a Champions League football match and fine dining. Last night, Elliot Keck of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said locals will be ‘utterly appalled’.

Walkouts that began in January escalated into an indefinite strike three weeks ago in a row over job cuts. It has now emerged that deputy leader Sharon Thompson was given a £300 ticket by Brindley Capital, an investment firm, to watch Aston Villa beat Celtic in the Champions League the evening before a strike. Amid mounting fury at the Labour-run council over the chaos, with rubbish piling up and rats running riot on the city's streets, No10 urged Unite to 'get round the table' and negotiate 'in good faith' The strike has led to rubbish piling up in the streets and residents complaining about rats The council declared a major incident earlier this week in a bid to increase collections of bin sacks amid a huge pile-up of waste on the streets The walkout has left Birmingham's streets covered in waste, attracting vermin, particularly rats Two weeks later, she and a guest were at Symphony Hall for a ballet.



And four after that, she and a guest watched a ballet of Cinderella at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Earlier that month, cabinet member Saima Suleman got a free meal at Asha’s Indian Restaurant from the Night Time Industries Association. A spokesman insisted the councillors’ gifts were related to their work in the authority.

The council, under Labour control since 2012, declared effective bankruptcy in 2023. Champions League Share or comment on this article: Labour councillors in Birmingham enjoyed free trips to the ballet, Champions League football and fine dining - as rubbish piled high across the city during bin strike e-mail Add comment Comments 0 Share what you think No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

Add your comment Enter your comment By posting your comment you agree to our house rules . Submit Comment Clear Close Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. No Yes Close Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline.

To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook.

Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy ..