The Birmingham city council leader has stepped down after failing to resolve the city’s “bin war”, during which rubbish went uncollected for seven weeks this summer. Labour’s John Clancy, who took on the role in December 2015, blamed “ill-informed” and “frenzied” media speculation for his departure. Also on Monday, Unite called for the interim council chief executive, Stella Manzie, to follow Clancy’s lead after she opposed the union deal. In a blogpost, Clancy wrote: “It has become clear to me that frenzied media speculation about the Birmingham waste dispute is beginning to harm Birmingham city council and the Birmingham Labour party. “I have therefore decided to resign both as leader of the Labour group and as the leader of Birmingham city council, with immediate effect.

Source: The Guardian September 11, 2017 18:35 UTC