SPENDING on Britain’s fire & rescue services must be restored to 2010 levels to cope with increasing floods and disasters, firefighters’ leaders have demanded.

In government, Labour will need to reverse 13 years of Tory austerity that has seen fire stations closed, appliances axed and 20 per cent of firefighters’ jobs cut, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said.

The union recently reported that six homes which might have been saved were destroyed in a blaze in Scotland when firefighters’ arrival was delayed because an appliance and crew had been axed to cut costs.