Latest editorial
A firefighter runs through a practice drill during a London Fire Brigade facility at Poplar Fire Station in London, February 29, 2024
LABOUR’S decision to keep cutting the Fire & Rescue service budget is ominous.
It reveals two things about this government which the trade union movement needs to change.
One: austerity is not over. Labour’s Budget last year was mixed, including some increases in funding for the National Health Service, local government and devolved nations. It has raised the minimum wage, and settled a number of industrial disputes with above-inflation pay awards.
Since 2010, one in five firefighter jobs has disappeared alongside 30% funding cuts — all while climate breakdown brings record blazes and flooding. It’s time to fund our fire service properly, writes FBU general secretary STEVE WRIGHT
MATT WRACK issues a clarion call for a rejuvenation of public services for the sake of our communities and our young people
When it comes to extreme weather events, from wildfires to flash floods, it’s firefighters who are on the front line of defence, but services have been cut to the bone, and government is not taking seriously its responsibility for the environment, says STEVE WRIGHT