Overview
- Conservative councillors’ bid to oust environment chief Majid Mahmood failed at full council, reflecting political friction without a breakthrough.
- Unite organisers pledged workers would stay out for as long as it takes and urged the council to restart negotiations.
- A council finance report forecasts £14.6 million in direct costs if action runs to the end of March, with £4.4 million lost from suspended garden waste collections.
- Unite says a provisional ‘ballpark’ deal was stymied by commissioners, a claim the council rejects as it labels the union’s lump-sum demands unjustifiable.
- Thirty-five MPs wrote to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging intervention, while a community leader called for residents to withhold council tax from April 1, 2026, which the council says remains a legal obligation.