The Birmingham bin strike fiasco is facing FOUR separate probes as a leadership crisis grips the city council.

Council sources say the crisis surrounding council leader John Clancy and his failed attempts to strike a deal with trade unions are now the subject of a series of top level investigations.

The probes are set to be conducted by the Government, the Labour Party and the Local Government Association, as well as a separate inquiry by the council.

Meanwhile, Cllr Clancy faces a vote of no confidence next week over his ‘serious mishandling’ of the dispute.

There is no end in sight for the bin strike, which has seen festering piles of black bags lining the city’s streets since the end of June. The council is using a mix of agency staff and contract companies to empty bins on an emergency basis.

Stella Manzie and John Clancy

Strike action resumed last Friday after 113 leading hand binmen were handed redundancy notices, even though they had been told two weeks earlier their jobs and pay grade was safe.

The circumstances surrounding the agreement and its subsequent collapse are now set to come under the spotlight of a series of top level inquiries.

Leaked emails between Cllr Clancy and chief executive Stella Manzie sparked claims he ignored legal and official advice and overstepped his authority in promising a deal to the Unite union, which could not be delivered.

Critics claim he bypassed and angered the council’s senior officials and left trade unions fuming after trying to downplay the deal as a ‘starting point for negotiations’.

His own cabinet member for cleaner streets, Lisa Trickett is reported to have launched a scathing attack on his leadership during the dispute at a private meeting of Labour councillors.

With Labour councillors in open revolt against Cllr Clancy and his cabinet divided, the issue has been referred to the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee and senior party officials are due to speak to those involved.

The Mail has also been told that the rift between the leader and chief executive has been referred to the Local Government Association - the national lobby group for councils.

But potentially most damaging is the fear that Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid could intervene. The city council has been on a Government watch list over failures in governance and leadership since the end of 2014, under the oversight of the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel.

Last month the Panel announced that the council was well on the road to recovery and asked to be suspended. Getting the Panel out of Birmingham was a key pledge of Cllr Clancy when he took the leadership in 2015 - but now rumours suggest that they could well be on the way back.

The council’s Governance Scrutiny Committee, made up of backbenchers, has also announced its own inquiry into the deal. Committee member cllr Randal Brew (Cons, Northfield) said: “We have agreed to look into the issues of the last week or so, particularly the relationship between the political leadership and council officers.”

He said that the committee are likely to call the key players to face questions at a future meeting.