Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid interrupted the ITV breakfast show alongside Martin Lewis to announce a ‘major incident’ in Birmingham
Susanna Reid, co-host of Good Morning Britain, made an urgent interruption during the ITV breakfast show to report a “major incident” unfolding in Birmingham.
Alongside financial expert Martin Lewis, she disclosed that the city’s council had issued the alert following the accumulation of over 17,000 tonnes of uncollected waste due to ongoing bin strikes.
The refuse has remained unattended as members of the Unite union have been on an all-out strike since 11 March, disputing pay conditions.
With rising temperatures heightening public health concerns, Birmingham City Council has taken action to ensure the safe operation of waste depots amidst the crisis.
The situation has escalated to such an extent that senior Conservative figures are urging the government to step in and address what they describe as an “escalating emergency” caused by the persistent bin strikes.
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The presenters then turned to correspondent Richard Gaisford, who was live in Birmingham standing in front of a large pile of bin bags.
He provided further details about the 7% increase in council tax, which has faced significant criticism.
In response, the council plans to use emergency funds for street cleaning, as there are growing concerns about potential health risks posed by the rotting bin bags.
Richard said: “People are certainly hoping it might be the beginning of the end of this crisis, although they’ll believe it when they see it because there is no end in sight currently to the industrial dispute that lies behind this.
“The council says there is some 17,000 tonnes of rubbish in bags like this currently out on the streets of Birmingham … there are real worries about when the temperatures warm up this week, we’re heading towards 20 degrees by Friday and what that means for peoples health.”
Richard continued: “It’s spilling out of doorways, there’s big piles of it on the pavements. We’re surrounded by takeaways, restaurants and supermarkets here in this part of the city.
“What we have here is a situation where the union are saying it’s going to fight for its workers to the hill and believes that some of them are going to lose £8,000 because of council changes, and it is very difficult to see that this is going to get any better any time soon.”
Good Morning Britain airs Monday to Friday from 6am on ITV1