AUSTERITY is to blame for the Birmingham bin strikes, left campaigners told Wes Streeting today after he attacked the Unite union over the city’s worsening public health emergency.

The Health Secretary raised concerns over bin bags piling up and “rats and other vermin crawling around” as the all-out strike over swingeing pay and jobs cuts entered its fifth week.

“I think this dispute has escalated way out of hand,” he told Times Radio, adding that it was “totally unacceptable” that the dispute had seen bin lorries blocked from leaving their depot.

“I understand industrial disputes happen,” Mr Streeting said. “But what is not acceptable is allowing these sorts of unsanitary conditions to occur on people’s streets.

“I’m urging Unite to do the right thing, stop blocking the bin lorries and allow people to get out there and clean the streets for the people of Birmingham, who’ve suffered for far too long.”

The impact of the strike prompted the city council to declare a major incident on March 31.

Talks between the local authority and Unite resumed today in a bid to break the deadlock.

People’s Assembly national secretary Ben Sellers said: “Of course, the rubbish piling up in Birmingham is distressing and unsanitary, but the answer to it can’t be strike-breaking, be it from agency workers, the army or local charitable groups.

“It’s kind of typical that this should be Wes Streeting’s answer, when the reality is vital public servants such as bin workers are being made to pay the price for continued austerity under the government he represents.”

A spokeswoman for left campaign group Momentum said: “Strikes like the one in Birmingham are an inevitable consequence of the Starmer government’s commitment to continued austerity.

“The binmen in Birmingham have had an £8,000 pay cut imposed on them and have every right to withdraw their labour.

“If Streeting wants someone to blame for the bin bags piling up in Birmingham, he should look at his own government’s failure to protect the pay of key workers across the country.”

The People’s Assembly staged a protest against the cuts to refuse collection services ahead of a full council meeting today.

The Fire Brigades Union has backed the strikers, vowing that its members will not “strike-break” by stepping in to help clear rubbish.

Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner met council leader John Cotton last weekend.