CUTS in Oxfordshire will not stop at the county boundary, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) warned today ahead of a bellwether strike ballot which may shape the response to cuts around the country.

General secretary Steve Wright spoke to members who travelled from all over Britain to meet in Oxfordshire, which could be the first brigade to take industrial action over a slashed budget.

The union has called for further investment as 12,000 firefighter jobs have been lost and a further 2,300 more could be cut in the next three years.

Mr Wright discussed the “determined and hard-hitting campaign” his union has led against the cuts on the service, which he said will become a test case for the rest of the country.

He said: “Cuts in Oxfordshire would not stop at the county boundary. Across the UK, our members are facing the same story.

“Cuts dressed up as ‘efficiency’. Cuts justified with spreadsheets and risk models.

“What we do now will shape the future of the fire and rescue service.”

He added that cuts to the service in Oxfordshire would “damage national resilience,” adding: “They would undermine cross-border arrangements.

“They would weaken public safety here — and set a dangerous precedent everywhere else.

“Cuts decided by the bosses from behind a desk — but lived out on the front line.

“If you come for one fire and rescue service, you take on the whole Fire Brigades Union.”

Mr Wright asked Oxfordshire County Council to “think again,” claiming councillors around the country “repeat the lines and sales pitches they are given by Chief Fire Officers.”

But he told local officials to listen to firefighters directly if they want to understand the real implications of cuts to the essential service.

“We know what happens when fire cover is stretched, when crewing is reduced, when workloads are piled higher and higher,” he said.

“It is our members who work in these communities. Our members who live here. Our members whose families live here. We know the risks.”

He reminded FBU members of the of Oxfordshire brigade, which is likely to be the first to take industrial action, that “nothing is handed to us unless we organise and apply pressure.”