FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) president Ian Murray vowed today to hold Labour’s feet to the fire to ensure that it scraps the Tories’ draconian minimum service levels legislation.

Giving his opening address at the union’s annual conference in Blackpool, he noted that he had been going to such meetings for about 20 years.

“And I’ve seen, year after year, resolutions, policy statements that clearly demonstrate that the fire and rescue service has been decimated, fragmented, downgraded, with little or no investment in its infrastructure,” Mr Murray said.