THE Fire Brigades Union (FBU) warned of possible national strikes if the government does not “protect the lives of firefighters and the public” as it launched its “Cuts Kill” campaign today.

Speaking at the event attended by MPs and FBU members outside Parliament, general secretary Steve Wright warned PM Sir Keir Starmer that the union is ready to “fight back.”

He said: “No more warm words, no more letter writing. If we’re going to see closures of fire stations and so many firefighter jobs, we’re going to fight back on an industrial level.

“That’s what we are building towards because political conversation was not moving the dial.”

He added: “The fire service has been cut to the bone. We’ve lost 12,000 firefighters — that’s one in five jobs.

“And we’re still seeing cuts under this Labour government. Including in Oxfordshire where we have launched a consultative ballot for strike action this week.

“It’s not only about the safety of the public, but about the safety of our firefighters as well.”

Labour MPs Ian Lavery, Lee Barron, Rebecca Long Bailey, Brian Leishman, Ian Byrne, Clive Lewis, Jon Trickett, Kim Johnson and Nav Mishra all attended the campaign launch in protest at their party’s cuts to the service.

Speaking to the Morning Star after the launch, Mr Wright explained that since he was appointed as general secretary, he has made it his mission to get the FBU “on an industrial footing” in order to oppose the cuts.

He said: “We have some political support and we hope to get our message across to the government: if you want to avert the first firefighter strike in 11 years, [you] need to refund and invest in the fire service.”

Referring to 42 planned redundancies in the Oxfordshire fire brigade, Mr Wright said the union will “look to move to a national ballot of our members.”

Speaking at the event in Westminster on College Green, MP Kim Johnson, who is also the chair of the FBU parliamentary group, said: “The crisis we face isn’t theoretical and it isn’t abstract. It’s real, it’s immediate and lives are being put at risk.

“We need to be absolutely clear: cuts to our fire and rescue service must be opposed and I will be calling loudly for sustained, strategic investment from the central government.”