GRIT | Who is really running Birmingham’s bin war?

Sam Donoghue, regional director of the Labour Party in the West Midlands. If he thinks these questions are unfair or unwelcome, he can say so. He can even tell me to "sod off".

If you live in Birmingham right now, you do not need a policy paper to tell you something is badly wrong. You can see it, and smell it, at the end of your street.

For months, the city has been living with a rolling public health crisis. Rubbish piled in alleyways, rats moving between black sacks, faith groups and volunteers stepping in where a functioning state should exist as a matter of routine.

On the surface, the story is familiar. A Labour-run council, effectively under special measures after a section 114 “bankruptcy” notice. Commissioners sent in by central government. A long and bitter dispute with bin workers represented by Unite the Union. Arguments over equal pay liabilities, job cuts, and the removal of a safety-critical role worth around £8,000 a year to some workers.

What is less widely said is that even this starting point is now being questioned. Serious academic and professional voices have expressed doubt about whether the section 114 notice was viable at all. There were no fully audited accounts in place. The notice itself was reportedly served while senior political figures were out of the country. None of this is proof of wrongdoing, but it does raise reasonable questions about how solid the foundations of the “bankrupt council” narrative really are.

But scratch the surface and a more troubling question appears.

Who, exactly, is calling the shots?

Ministers spent months insisting that this was a “local matter”. In Parliament on 22 July, that position shifted. Ministers confirmed that any deal must be signed off by government-appointed commissioners. That dynamic challenges the idea that this is purely a local democratic dispute. When Whitehall must approve outcomes, localism becomes more limited in practice.

And once that truth is accepted, attention shifts from the council chamber to the party machinery behind it.

The regional office and Sam Donoghue

At the centre of that machinery sits Sam Donoghue, regional director of the Labour Party in the West Midlands.

He is not an elected politician. He does not stand before voters. He is employed by the Labour Party to organise, manage and enforce party systems.

But his role is influential.

In practice, regional directors are widely understood to have significant influence over candidate selections and deselections. They are also understood to influence when local parties are able to select, and when additional regional or national support is introduced. They may shape shortlists and selection environments. This applies not only to local government candidates, but can extend to parliamentary selections as well. These are widely discussed features of how modern political parties are said to operate.

The problem is that this type of influence is rarely visible in public.

Several Birmingham councillors have told me privately that they feel unable to speak freely about the bin dispute. They describe exercising caution when discussing it and concern about how openly they can challenge decisions. Some have raised concerns about the influence of the Labour Party’s regional office on selections and internal party processes. These are perceptions relayed to me in confidence, not established facts. For that reason, I put these concerns directly to the regional director, Sam Donoghue, asking whether he recognises that some councillors feel constrained in what they can say, and whether current selection practices may be contributing to that atmosphere.

So Sam Donoghue has now been asked questions.

When I emailed him, an automatic reply confirmed he was on holiday. I immediately sent the same questions to the wider Labour regional office team. At the time of writing, no substantive reply has been received. If a response arrives, it will be published in full and unedited.

The questions put to Sam Donoghue

1. Influence of the regional office
   Several Birmingham Labour councillors say they feel unable to speak openly about the dispute.
   What is the regional office’s role in this industrial dispute?
   How does he respond to concerns that councillors feel inhibited about challenging or scrutinising decisions?

2. Political direction
   Is the regional office receiving or passing on political direction regarding this dispute?
   If so, from whom?

3. Who directs strategy?
   In his view, who is actually directing Birmingham’s approach: the council leadership, commissioners, the regional office, or central government?

4. Negotiation breakdown
   Was the regional office involved in discussions that led to negotiations ending when the council closed talks?

5. Equal pay advice
   Has the regional office seen the KC legal advice published by Unite?
   Does it support greater transparency over the council’s own legal advice?

6. Workplace conditions
   Has the regional office investigated allegations concerning bullying, blacklisting, and long-term misuse of agency workers in the refuse service?

7. Political risk and the 2026 elections
   What is the position on candidate withdrawals and unfilled wards?
   What steps are being taken to ensure all seats are contested?
   Is the regional office concerned about political fallout?

8. Structural pressures
   Would any merger of regional Labour offices affect his role?
   Could organisational uncertainty be influencing behaviour?

9. The way out
   In his view, what is the quickest and most responsible route to ending this dispute?

Power without sunlight

This is not about personalities.

This is about power and accountability.

Sam Donoghue did not invent this system, but he works within it and is understood to hold influence inside it. That influence is understood to shape selection environments that affect who becomes a councillor, who becomes an MP, and who leads local government.

That makes his role public in effect, even if private in contract.

When power shapes democratic outcomes, it deserves scrutiny.

So far, those questions remain unanswered. That silence may have ordinary explanations. But it still matters.

If answers arrive, they will be published.

The wider political truth

This no longer appears to be a simple council-versus-union dispute.

There is visible tension between Unite and the national Labour Party. What was once a close political relationship appears more strained in recent months. The language has hardened. The loyalty more conditional.

This raises a reasonable possibility.

Is this simply a dispute over pay and conditions?

Or is Birmingham being used, consciously or otherwise, as a political proving ground for a changing relationship between Labour and organised labour?

Right now the streets are filthy. But the less visible questions of power are harder to clean away.

Final words: honesty over fog

There is a contrast worth making.

When the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, was challenged about whether she was auditioning to join Reform UK, she did not hide behind process or jargon. She did not reach for safe words or scripted lines.

She said, “They can sod off.”

That reply mattered because it was clear.

And that clarity deserves respect.

Whatever people think of her politics, that level of directness cuts through theatre. It does not leave the public guessing.

I respect that kind of honesty.

And I would welcome the same openness from Sam Donoghue.

If the regional office has no influence here, he can say so.

If he is acting on instruction from the national Labour Party, he can say so.

If commissioners, not councillors, are carrying the real authority, he can say so.

If he thinks these questions are unfair or unwelcome, he can say so.

He can even tell me to sod off.

I would publish that response in full.

Because honesty, even blunt honesty, builds more trust than silence dressed up as professionalism.

The bins will one day be emptied. The streets will be cleaned.

But trust only returns when those who hold power are willing to speak plainly about how that power is used.

The invitation stands.

Please NOTE: Public interest and fairness notice:

This article is published in the public interest and in the spirit of responsible journalism. It concerns matters of governance, public accountability, public expenditure, and democratic process that affect the lives of Birmingham residents. Any references to concerns, perceptions, or claims are reported as such and not asserted as fact. All individuals mentioned have been offered the opportunity to respond, and any responses will be published in full.

PLEASE 🤗