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Birmingham City Council leader John Clancy is facing a major Labour rebellion and a possible vote of no confidence over his handling of the ongoing bin strike.

Backbench councillors Claire Spencer (Moseley and Kings Heath) and Basharat Dad (Stechford and Yardley North) have submitted a motion ahead of the Labour group meeting on September 11.

It states the leader has ‘seriously mishandled’ the dispute and lost the confidence of colleagues, council staff and union officials.

Another backbencher, the outspoken Hall Green Labour councillor Barry Bowles, has also written an open letter to Cllr Clancy, calling for him to resign.

The leader has previously faced similar calls from the Tory and Lib Dem opposition during the dispute, but now members of the council’s ruling Labour group have joined the chorus.

The quit demands follow the emergence of an email which appears to confirm Cllr Clancy struck a deal with the unions, allegedly without the knowledge of senior cabinet colleagues nor senior council officials.

t is claimed when those colleagues refused to back the agreement, the council leader told the media there never was a deal.

This soured relations with the union and led to the resumption of strike action.

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In her motion, Cllr Spencer says: “No-one doubts how difficult it has been for John Clancy and the Cabinet in recent weeks – relentless and complex negotiations on a matter which challenges us as Labour politicians. Nonetheless, this has been seriously mishandled, and the extent of this is being revealed to our citizens.

“We cannot brush this under the carpet. If we do not act, it will be interpreted as support for this way of doing politics, of running the city.

“This will lose us the trust of our citizens, our friends and neighbours."

She added: “Multiple emails and statements demonstrate that the Leader struck a deal at ACAS, without Cabinet approval and against the advice of senior officers. Having taken such a decision, he compelled officers to implement his decision, without any authority to do so. When confronted with this in the media, he denied it.”

She said the trade union officials from both Unite and Unison have told her they can no longer deal with the council with Cllr Clancy as leader because they do not trust him.

Cllr Barry Bowles has urged Cllr Clancy to resign in an open letter shared with colleagues and leaked to the Birmingham Mail.

He says: “I implore you to do this as I think we can go no lower than where we are now. We are hated by the trade unions and the Left and we are also hated by the right because of the way the bin dispute has been handled by yourself.

“You seem to be in total denial. If no deal had been agreed, why didn’t you challenge Unite and ACAS when they made public statements that a deal had been made with you?”

Cllr Clancy may struggle to win a vote of no confidence given the ongoing bins crisis and loss of union support.

He won the leadership by just one vote when Labour councillors met to elect their leader in November 2015, beating rivals including former cabinet member Penny Holbrook and the current council deputy leader Ian Ward.

There are many in the 80 strong Birmingham Labour group who would like to see him replaced.

Despite having bolstered his position by adding more colleagues to the city council’s payroll during the last year, he is by no means secure.