00:00Do you think Birmingham MPs should be at the moment, Karen Malone?
00:02Well, yeah, this story...
00:04Stick with your Labour, and this is a Labour-run council.
00:06This is Liam Benham, and this is the guy, he's the one that left that.
00:08No, didn't he say there's no money left.
00:10Chief Secretary of the Treasury.
00:11Yeah, he's gone off to Japan on a jolly, on a fact-finding mission.
00:14What facts could he possibly be finding that would be useful to Birmingham?
00:19Can't imagine.
00:19Especially at a time when there's 20-odd thousand pounds...
00:2221,000 tonnes.
00:23Tons of rat-infested rubbish, rotting industry.
00:26Can I just tell you as well?
00:27But you know how much the Birmingham council leader is on?
00:30I found this out yesterday.
00:32300 grand a year.
00:33This is the council...
00:34What?
00:34Yeah, that went bust last year.
00:36So they've brought in...
00:37This will be the chief executive?
00:38This is the chief executive.
00:39They've brought in four top executives at 300 grand apiece
00:43to sort out the financial debt.
00:46And they can't even get the rubbish collected.
00:47And they can't get the...
00:48And do you know what they're doing now, sir?
00:49They're fining residents a rat tax,
00:53because before it was free,
00:55if you had a pest problem,
00:58you'd call them out.
00:58It was free.
00:59Now they're having to pay.
01:01I mean, this is just...
01:02Well, I actually think every household in Birmingham
01:04is going to have a rat problem.
01:04Yeah.
01:05I mean, I think they just shouldn't...
01:06The rats are the size of cats.
01:07They shouldn't pay their council tax.
01:09You know, they've had a rise last year of 10%.
01:11This year it's 7.5%.
01:12It is.
01:13Next year it's going to be 7.5%.
01:15They asked for 10%,
01:16but they're going to get 7.5%.
01:18And nothing's happening.
01:20And this Liam Byrne,
01:21who was their MP,
01:23which is where this strike is happening,
01:25he's swanned off.
01:26Carol, there's...
01:27And he's extended the trip,
01:29so we can have some holiday.
01:30Can I have a say on this?
01:31Of course you can.
01:32Right.
01:32So Liam Byrne is not in the government.
01:35He has no jurisdiction or confidence...
01:38He's an MP.
01:38...to resolve this issue whatsoever.
01:40That is a matter for...
01:41But he has no responsibility to his constituents.
01:43No, that's not what I said.
01:45There is...
01:45He's not...
01:46He can't summon the different parties
01:48to resolve this dispute.
01:49That's a matter for sort of the council
01:51and the union
01:52and ultimately for national government.
01:53What about the perception, Jonathan?
01:55Well, look, what he is
01:56is the chair of the business committee.
01:58Yes.
01:59And that has an important job to do
02:01in finding out, you know,
02:02about the UK's trade relationships,
02:04about how the UK might sort of model
02:06its economy and commerce.
02:07And we have a lot to learn from Japan,
02:08by the way.
02:09So I have no objection to him.
02:10Hang on.
02:10He's at a five-star hotel in Japan.
02:13Where is this business leader...
02:14What would you expect him to stay in hospital, Andrew?
02:15Where is the chairman of the business committee
02:17on tariffs?
02:17The tariffs, hell, that's been unleashed.
02:20Nothing to say,
02:21because he's having a jolly in Japan.
02:22And he's missed several...
02:24He's missed several Commons hearings this week
02:26on the tariffs and on the economy.
02:28That is his job.
02:29And he's not doing...
02:30But this trip would have been planned...
02:31Look, I'm not responsible for Liam Byrne's diary,
02:34but this trip would have been planned
02:34a long time ago.
02:35Doesn't matter.
02:36You cancelled it.
02:36You cancelled it.
02:37Things happen.
02:38Well, I mean,
02:38I'm glad that we're talking about the tariffs,
02:40by the way.
02:41No, let's talk about this Birmingham MP.
02:42Do you really think he's in the right place?
02:44I think it's completely legitimate for MPs
02:46to go on delegations and to find things,
02:49and you can walk and shoot...
02:50At a time when your constituency
02:52is in the kind of mess that Birmingham is in just now,
02:56where you should be supporting...
02:57Where he should be raising that in Parliament.
02:59How many people have you heard,
03:01MPs in Parliament, raise this?
03:02I haven't.
03:03Hardly any.
03:03He should be shouting from the rooftops
03:05about what's happening in the city of Birmingham.
03:07Liam Byrne did give...
03:08I was on Patrick's show on Tuesday,
03:10and Liam Byrne did give a statement
03:11that Patrick went out on Tuesday.
03:12Got from Japan.
03:13Well, I don't know where he was at the time,
03:15but, you know, he's involved.
03:16I can tell you he was in Japan.
03:17He'd had staff going around.
03:18He was in Japan.
03:19OK, you can keep on saying it.
03:20Well, he was.
03:21Well, he was.
03:21That's where he is.
03:22I understand that.
03:23How is going to Japan
03:24going to help anyone
03:26running a small business in Birmingham?
03:27It's like saying,
03:28how is doing anything going to help that?
03:30But it just tells you so much
03:31about the priorities
03:32of the Labour government.
03:35They love flying around the world.
03:37You can be very parochial about this.
03:38It's not parochial.
03:40It's saying,
03:41can you just take care of matters
03:43in this country?
03:44Please.
03:44But that's not what local MPs do.
03:48There's the picture.
03:48What do you mean that's not?
03:50He's not a local MP.
03:52No, local MPs are not responsible
03:53for bin collections.
03:54He's not a local MP.
03:56He's an MP.
03:57He's a parliamentarian representative.
03:59Birmingham Hodgill.
04:00The people of...
04:00There's nothing local about him.
04:02Yeah, well, he's an MP for...
04:04All MPs are local MPs
04:06when it comes to their local...
04:07They're parliamentarians
04:08representing a constituency.
04:10Correct.
04:10But there's a limited amount
04:11that you can do to resolve.
04:12It's a terrible, terrible dispute,
04:14but it's not Liam Byrne
04:15who gets sorted out.
04:16It's the national government
04:16that should be stepping in.
04:17He should be going round...
04:18A lot of his constituents
04:20have been interviewed
04:20and they actually said today
04:22the only time he's seen him
04:23is at election time
04:24when he's trying to get you a vote.
04:25So he should be there
04:26talking to constituents,
04:28trying to make them feel better about it,
04:30doing stuff in parliament,
04:32rallying behind the scenes.
04:33What is he doing
04:33to try and solve this dispute?
04:35That's what we need to do.
04:36Having a nice holiday in Japan?
04:37The bottom line is now...
04:38No, it is now.
04:39He's extended the parliamentary trip
04:40into a holiday.
04:41I'm meeting in a five-star hotel
04:43paid for by the taxpayer.
04:44I'm not here to defend Liam Byrne.
04:46Well, you are.
04:47I'm here to defend him per se.
04:49I'm here to say
04:50that MPs have different responsibilities
04:52and they can do two things.
04:53And when your city
04:54is under 21,000 tonnes
04:56of rat-fested rubbish,
04:58that's where you should be.
04:59I'm sort of fascinated as well
05:03why you have to go
05:04on a fact-finding mission
05:06in the days of Zoom.
05:07Yeah, yeah, quite.
05:07And, you know,
05:08you can have calls with these people.
05:10If what he's genuinely doing there
05:12is learning about business,
05:14he doesn't need to fly business class,
05:15stay in a five-star hotel,
05:17get swanning around.
05:18I just...
05:18I'm sick of them.
05:19I'm sick of them.
05:20What do you think this bin strike
05:22is doing for the reputation
05:23of Britain's second city?
05:25Well, that is a separate issue.
05:27I completely agree with you.
05:28Film crews are from all around the world.
05:30They can't believe
05:31this is happening in our second city.
05:32It's a total nightmare
05:32and the government needs to be
05:35sort of getting the two sides together
05:37to intervene in this,
05:38to speak absolutely...
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