Revolt over Labour ‘rat tax' as Birmingham councillor quits
A Birmingham councillor has quit the Labour Party over a 'rat tax' on residents blighted by the ongoing bin strike crisis.
Cllr Sam Forsyth quit Sir Keir Starmer's party on Tuesday in protest over locals being charged for using council pest controllers.
Cllr Forsyth, who represents the western suburb of Quinton, had been suspended by the council's Labour group last month after not supporting budget proposals, put forward by the council's Labour leadership, which included £149 million of savings.
The streets of England's second city have been plagued by rats amid growing mountains of uncollected waste after hundreds of Unite members walked out in a row with the Labour-run council.
She told a Birmingham city council meeting that the newly-enforced £24.60 pest control charge was 'completely unpalatable'.
'My opposition to the introduction of that charge is well known, and I stuck to my principles on it,' she said. 'Principle may be something that is a stranger to some people in this chamber, but it is not to me.
'I opposed that charge, it is not a decision I regret, and as of ten minutes ago I am no longer a member of the Labour Party.'
Council pest control services were free for all Birmingham residents until the charges for 'rat in garden and rat in house treatments' were brought in last year.
The bin strike is now in its fifth week, and more than 20,000 tonnes of household rubbish are believed to be piled on the city's streets. The council has been forced to declare a major incident after residents claimed some neighbourhoods were being plagued by rats 'as big as small cats'.
Speaking outside the chamber about what has been called the 'rat tax', she said: 'I thought it was an extremely bad, short-sighted idea, particularly as we are in the middle of a bin strike.
'I didn't come into politics to make life any harder for poor people, because I know what that is like. That is what I experienced growing up. Maybe because I experienced rats around growing up, that is why this is so important to me.
'Life is about compromise but this was one thing I couldn't compromise on. Rats frighten people, they carry diseases, people are uncertain what to do, and it's just not something we should be lax about.'
'21,000 tonnes of rubbish'
The resignation came after a man appeared at a council meeting dressed as a rat to shame Labour over the bin strike on Tuesday. The unidentified man asked officials when they planned to collect the rubbish.
'Given reports of 21,000 tonnes of rubbish on our street, by what date does the council think it will have reduced the backlog, reduced the rat population and return our streets to an acceptable state?' he asked Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for the environment.
The man later told the BBC: 'Selly Oak has a huge amount of rubbish, especially from students, and it means that all my relatives can feed in a way that means we can go around and rampage in the streets – it's great.'
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