Latest editorial
New London Fire Brigade recruits go through their paces during a drill at a Fire station in East London, July 21, 2022
FIRE and rescue services can no longer ensure public safety, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned as it revealed the full extent of Tory cuts across Britain.
Between 2010 and this year, 21 per cent of front-line firefighters’ jobs — 12,000 — have been axed due to government cuts, new data shows.
The FBU also found that 4,000 firefighters have both a full-time and an on-call contract and are counted as two workers in the data, meaning that firefighter numbers available are even lower than the data suggests.
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
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
