FIREFIGHTERS have hit out at the National Fire Chiefs Council, a private enterprise claiming to be the “professional” voice of the service.

The NFCC received £8 million out of its £12m income from the Home Office, according to its financial statement released last year.

Speaking at the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) conference in Blackpool today, Merseyside FBU secretary Ian Hibbert, called it an “unelected body” that draws millions in taxpayers’ money in an attempt to “mould the Fire and Rescue Service as they see fit.”