Government commissioners have been undermining efforts to resolve the Birmingham bin strike, the trade union Unite has claimed.

Talks between the union and Birmingham City Council under the auspices of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) started earlier this month.

However, the union said the council had yet to come up with any proposal to resolve the dispute and has broken the ACAS-agreed deadline for tabling an offer three times.

The union claimed it was ‘increasingly clear' the offer was being blocked by Government-appointed commissioners.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the offer the council talked about in public ‘simply never existed'.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said Unite's accusation was ‘simply false'.

They added: ‘We continue to urge Unite to suspend its strike action, and both parties to reach agreement on a fair and reasonable offer.'