MSPs have united across party lines to demand an end to over a decade of cuts at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

The group, which includes the SNP’s Bill Kidd, Labour’s Alex Rowley and Tories’ Pam Gosal, added their signatures to a Fire Brigades Union (FBU) letter to First Minister John Swinney demanding that the cuts be reversed. 

FBU Scottish secretary John McKenzie said: “Since the creation of the service in 2013, £56 million of real-terms funding has been stripped from the annual resource budget.

“This led to almost 1,250 firefighter posts being lost [while] response times to emergency incidents spiral by an average of 90 seconds for every call, a shocking figure in a profession where a matter of seconds can literally cost lives.

“Firefighters have been calling for MSPs to show cross party support for increased real terms funding for the fire and rescue service in Scotland, and I am glad to see politicians from all parties back these calls.

“It is now up to the Scottish government to provide the additional investment that is so urgently required to protect the communities of Scotland effectively.”