Sneering MPs burst into laughter as unbiased Ayoub Khan moans about ‘garbage increase proper beneath my nostril’… as he speaks in Commons subsequent to Reform UK’s increasing contingent
The House of Commons burst into laughter today as an independent MP took a swipe at Reform UK’s expanding contingent in Parliament.
Ayoub Khan was greeted with guffaws as he moaned about ‘rubbish building up right beneath my very nose’ while speaking from the benches behind Reform’s MPs.
The MP for Birmingham Perry Barr made the joke as he went on to quiz Sir Keir Starmer about long-runnning local bin strikes during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Reform MPs Richard Tice and Sarah Pochin turned round to look at Mr Khan as he made the barb about their party.
But Mr Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, appeared to accept the mocking in good spirits as he was heard shouting: ‘Easy tiger!’
Reform won five seats at the 2024 general election, but party leader Nigel Farage has since seen his ranks swelled by a series of defections from the Tories.
Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, and Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, both quit the Conservatives for Reform last month.
Reform now have 8 MPs in the Commons – just one less than the number of Scottish National Party MPs.
Ayoub Khan was greeted with guffaws as he moaned about ‘rubbish building up right beneath my very nose’ while speaking from the benches behind Reform’s MP
Richard Tice and Sarah Pochin turned round to look at Mr Khan as he made the barb about their party. Mr Tice appeared to accept the mocking in good spirits, shouting: ‘Easy tiger!’
In the final question at PMQs on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Khan told the Commons: ‘Mr Speaker, rubbish is building up right beneath my very nose.’
After being interrupted by widespread laughter, he then added: ‘It’s becoming a serious problem. In Birmingham, bin strikes are now running over close to two years.
‘So can I ask, gently, the PM to intervene and perhaps speak to the leader of Birmingham City Council to see if he can re-enter negotiations with Unite the union?’
In response, Sir Keir said: ‘He’s right to raise this and we’re doing everything we can to resolve this situation, which absolutely needs resolving.’
Bin workers in Birmingham recently voted to continue taking industrial action for another six months in their long-running dispute over pay.
Unite said its members decided overwhelmingly to extend their action past local elections in May and into September.
The workers have been taking industrial action for more than a year and have been on all-out strike since last March.
The council is pressing ahead with reforms to refuse collections it insists are needed to improve the service, but Unite says this will lead to pay cuts for hundreds of its members.
Agency workers hired to help with collections have also voted to continue taking industrial action, said Unite.
The union said there have been no negotiations over ending the dispute since May last year.
