Birmingham Local Conservatives welcome Birmingham City Council’s belated decision to temporarily suspend the controversial ‘Rat Tax’ in response to the ongoing bin strikes, which have left streets littered with uncollected waste and heightened public health concerns.
Local Conservatives have been calling for the 'Rat Tax' to be scrapped as part of their plan to end the strike and clean up the city. This move vindicates the Conservative opposition’s long-standing campaign to abolish the charge, which we have consistently argued should never have been introduced.
From the outset, Conservative councillors, led by Cllr Adam Higgs (Con, Highters Heath) and Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), have fiercely opposed the pest control charge for rats, branding it a ‘Rat Tax’ that unfairly burdens residents already grappling with the council’s mismanagement and service failures. The charge, introduced last year as part of Labour’s budget cuts, sparked outrage, with warnings of a “golden decade for rats” as bin strikes exacerbated vermin issues across the city that were already becoming apparent as a result of pre-strike service failures to keep the streets clean.