We are going to bring this live page to a close on the agreement reached between the Labour leadership of the council and the union Unite over Birmingham's ongoing bin strikes.

You can read the story in full, but here is a summary of some of the key points from this afternoon:

• One of the biggest industrial disputes of recent years looks set to end as the leader of the council, John Cotton, said a negotiated settlement "is now within sight"
• But he added the deal could not be signed off until after next week's council elections, because of pre-poll restrictions on policy changes
• Unite said it wanted to see an end to the dispute but the deal would have to be put to its members
• The union also accused the government commissioners who oversee the council of trying to stop the deal - we have approached the government for a response
• Over more than a year, residents in Birmingham have faced piles of rubbish growing at times on pavements and street corners
• All the opposition parties we have had responses from - Conservatives, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Reform UK - have accused Labour of electioneering, days before the 7 May elections
• A community leader who had called for the dispute to end, Bishop Desmond Jaddoo, said it was time for Brummies that "we start cleaning up our city"

Birmingham Liberal Democrat Leader, councillor Roger Harmer, has questioned the timing of today's announcement.

"If this deal was possible, why hasn't it been done months ago rather than leaving Birmingham's residents to put up with the strike with no recycling or garden waste collections," he said.

He added that any deal would need to be made by the council's cabinet, which could not happen until after the election.

For the first time since the dispute began... a clear sign of an endpublished at 16:12 BST

16:12 BST

Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent

This is a major breakthrough in the long-running Birmingham bin strike.

Both the city council and the union Unite say a deal’s been reached that they are happy with. It’s understood that workers who faced being downgraded will be paid compensation for the loss in wages.

It’s the first time since the dispute began in January 2025 that there’s been a clear sign of an end.

Image source, PA

More than 400,000 households in Birmingham have had no recycling collections since the beginning of January last year, and only irregular waste collections for most of that time.

The council said it needed to abolish some jobs within its waste collection service, because other people on the same grades but in different roles were being paid less. That meant some staff would lose up to £8,000 a year.

It’s believed that today’s deal will mean one-off payments to workers of up to £16,000 but that they would agree to take a lower salary.

Although it can’t be agreed until after local elections, all of the competing parties have said they would make ending the strike a priority.

Despite the claims of electioneering by opposition parties, the move towards an agreement has been welcomed by the Labour Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker.

According to the union, he played a part in getting the council and union back around the table.

"This has been a difficult period for the city," he said in a statement.

"Residents have felt the impact and workers have been looking for fairness and certainty."

The offer from the city council, which will have to be put to Unite members, includes compensation of up to £16,000 for workers, according to Onay Kasab, from the union.

Previous offers did not include compensation for drivers, Mr Kasab said on Monday, and this change helped bring the dispute towards a conclusion.

A reminder that both Unite and the council's Labour leadership have said today's breakthrough is not the end of the strike: union members will vote on it and the council will have to wait until at least after the 7 May elections for a final decision.

First the Green Party, then the Conservatives and now Reform UK are accusing the Labour Party, who run the city council, of "cynical electioneering at the expense of bin workers".

A Reform UK spokesperson said the authority had come back to the same deal which it rejected last year and "nothing has changed except the election timetable".

They added: "What assurance do we have that this is more than just words to win votes?"

A reminder, the whole of Birmingham City Council is being contested on 7 May.

More now from the Conservative Group's leader on Birmingham City Council, Robert Alden, who says the Labour Party running the council waited until 10 days before the 7 May local election in England to "agree a deal set to cause a new equal pay bill".

"The truth is, Labour are committing to yet another equal pay bill and running off to leave everyone else to pay for it," he adds.

"If Labour had a lawful deal, they would already have put it to the council to agree months ago. The fact that they haven't shows this to be the election stunt it is."

In his initial statement, the Labour council leader John Cotton had said: "It’s now clear that whilst other parties have no plan, only Labour can end this dispute and deliver a refuse service that works for everyone in Birmingham.”

Labour has put its political interests ahead of the residents of Birmingham, according to the city's Conservative leader, councillor Robert Alden.

He said Labour had either wasted 18 months refusing a deal "for no reason", or "knowing they are about to be kicked out of office have just saddled Brummies with tens of millions of pounds of new equal pay debt".

"Either way, Labour can't be trusted to clean up the city and save weekly bin collections," Alden finished.

Finding a solution to the bin strike in Birmingham has "taken far too long", a bishop and community leader said this afternoon.

Earlier this year, Bishop Desmond Jaddoo had called on the council to take more action and today, he said it was disappointing it had taken this long.

"This should have been resolved ages ago, we should never have been there in the first place. It's important that we start cleaning up our city," he added.

The Labour councillors running Birmingham City Council have been accused of being "utterly cynical and desperate" in announcing a deal to end the bin strikes a week before May's local elections.

The whole council is being elected on 7 May and the leader of the Green Party, councillor Julien Pritchard, accused Labour of playing "political games".

"Labour could have resolved this strike months ago, saving misery and millions of pounds. Nobody in this city really believes Labour is the answer to Labour's own problems," he said.

"We will support a fair deal to end the bin strike. But residents and bin workers need the real deal, not an electoral gimmick."

Image source, EPA

Government commissioners, who have been overseeing Birmingham City Council since 2023, have been accused of trying to stop this deal "at the eleventh hour" by Unite.

The commissioners were brought in after the authority declared itself effectively bankrupt.

But Unite's general secretary, Sharon Graham, claimed they had blocked the deal "not just once but twice".

“Their lack of both experience and industrial relations competence has been a major factor in this dispute," she added.

Earlier, the council's leader John Cotton said he had "instructed officers to move forward with negotiations so that we can bring this matter to a close".

The government has been approached for a response to Unite's claims about the commissioners.

Image source, PA Media

Relations between the union Unite and the Labour Party, currently in charge of Birmingham City Council, became increasingly bitter over the course of the bin strikes.

Historically, the union has been the Labour Party's biggest affiliate, but this has been cut in recent years.

In March, they voted to cut their affiliation fees to Labour by 40% over the party's actions relating to the strike, a £580,000 decrease.

At the time, general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Workers are scratching their heads asking whose side are Labour on."

While a Labour Party spokesperson said: "Unite could and should end the strikes."

Image source, Getty Images

The striking bin workers have been praised by their union, Unite, for getting a deal back on the table.

The full details will stay confidential while they wait for the detailed offer from the city council, a spokesperson said, adding it would have to be voted on by the workers.

“I salute the fortitude of my members who have needlessly been forced to endure months of attacks and hardship to get us to this point," general secretary Sharon Graham (pictured) said.

A significant moment in this long-running saga... but it's far from overpublished at 14:36 BST

14:36 BST

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, Birmingham

This marks a significant moment in this long-running saga that has caused so much disruption to the city of Birmingham. But it’s far from over.

The Labour administration say they have the framework of a deal that could end the strike and that they will instruct officers to move ahead with that deal if they are still in power after the local election.

Unite says this forms the basis of an acceptable situation for members - including compensation for drivers which was a former sticking point - and that it’s a jumping off point for any party in charge here to work from.

There are a lot of questions, though:

How some of the equal pay issues that the council leadership was so adamant were a problem have been overcome.

Whether this proposal has the backing of officers and the commissioners still overseeing the council.

And whether it will make any difference to the public going to the polls on 7 May.

Unite says the full details of the deal will remain confidential while negotiations continue with the council, but says it is based on the "ballpark" deal agreed at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) last year.

The union says this included:

• A minimum of two years cushion for workers from the impacts of the job evaluation process, rather than six months
• Striking agency workers with more than 12 months of employment on the contract will be offered a path to permanent employment
• Disciplinary issues will be quashed and the gross misconduct issue reviewed
• For pension purposes the dispute will be treated as authorised absence
• Legal action on both sides will be ended

Image source, Gabriel Bononi

We will bring you reaction as we get it from the other political parties in Birmingham to today's agreement reached between the city council and Unite.

But back in April, Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice told Times Radio the strikes could be tackled with a Doge-like approach (referring to the Department of Government Efficiency set up in the US by Elon Musk).

At the same time, the Conservatives said they would end the strike with group leader, councillor Robert Alden, saying: "If we take control of the council in May this year, we'll reinstate weekly bin collections, create dedicated clean-up crews to tackle rubbish on the streets, and end the equal pay liabilities created by Labour."

We have asked both parties along with the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats for their reaction today.

Image source, Reuters

One of the UK's biggest industrial disputes in recent years began back on 6 January 2025 when up to 350 Unite the Union members began a series of one-day strikes over pay and the removal of a couple of roles.

An all-out strike was then launched weeks later on 11 March.

Throughout the dispute, the council has employed agency workers to collect household waste, but at times, piles of rubbish have grown on pavements and street corners while many bins overflow.

Recycling has not been collected for more than a year, with residents taking to it to tips themselves, organising with neighbours to do pick ups or simply hoarding it. Many say they have to put recycling in their household waste bins.

The strike has been bitter, with collections by agency workers being disrupted on several occasions as striking workers blocked lorries from leaving depots and the issue even ended up at the High Court.

Responding to the council's statement, Onay Kasab, from the Unite union, said the reality for them was that they were only "where we are now because of our members being absolutely strong".

He said there was a potential deal on the table but it would have to go to the union's members.

"What I want to see is a resolution to the dispute," he added.

This is "a deal that would be good for the workforce, represent good value for money and would not repeat the mistakes of the past and risk creating new structural equal pay liabilities", the council leader's statement continues.

“I want our workforce to be able to return to work and help us deliver the quality refuse and recycling services the people of this city deserve. That’s why throughout this dispute I have resisted those who would dismiss the striking workers instead of negotiating.

“I have instructed officers to move forward with negotiations so that we can bring this matter to a close.

But he added the deal could not be signed off until after next week's council elections, because of pre-poll restrictions on policy changes.