Unite has called for an investigation into whether Birmingham’s Government-appointed commissioners have a financial interest in keeping the bin strikes going.

A deleted message on the Government’s website in early April reportedly suggested that Local Government Minister Jim McMahon wanted Birmingham City Council to ‘lead its own recovery’, which has been interpreted by some as a plan to end the intervention.

McMahon later gave a speech saying the commissioners were to stay on at the local authority.

Unite claimed that the decision by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to continue with the intervention was made in light of the council declaring a major incident on 1 April due to the long-running bin strike.

The union said it remains ‘unclear’ what influence the commissioners had in calling the major incident and alleged the Government appointees were blocking a deal to ‘ensure their fees continue to be paid.’

A Government spokesperson said there was no connection between the intervention and the industrial action.

‘Commissioners were appointed to Birmingham City Council in October 2023 for a period of five years, to address deep-rooted financial, culture and governance failings,’ a spokesperson for MHCLG said.

‘It was not the case that the intervention was extended or changed in any way because of the waste dispute.’

Unite called on the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate whether the commissioners have a financial conflict of interest.

‘The commissioners have stood in the way of a deal that could and should have been reached months ago,’ said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

‘Despite never attending negotiations, they have obstructed every effort to bring these strikes to an end – wasting millions upon millions of public funds in the process.’