Prime Minister Gordon Brown today urged striking binmen and council bosses to sit down for talks to end long-running industrial action, but declined to intervene directly in the dispute.

Hundreds of refuse workers and street cleaners in Leeds, West Yorkshire, have been on strike since September 7 after walking out in a row over pay cuts.

Yesterday, the binmen rejected what Leeds City Council described as its "final and best offer" in a deal linking pay to improved productivity.

Council leaders expressed "dismay" over the vote, but the GMB union said that the deal would see a significant number of strikers being asked to work longer and harder while taking a pay cut of more than £1,000.

Speaking during a visit to West Yorkshire today, Mr Brown told Real Radio: "This is a local authority dispute and it has got to be resolved. I feel for those people waiting for their rubbish to be collected."

Asked if government ministers could get involved in bringing the strike to an end, Mr Brown said: "What we have got to do is make sure that the local people get round the table and sort it out.

"If you intervene in every area, you don't get the results you want."

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