Hundreds of firefighters sign open letter urging 'don't vote Tory' in wake of brigade cuts

 
Closures: Chris McLean (right) after his final job with green watch at Clerkenwell Fire Station, one of 10 that shut across London last year. Fire bosses blamed 'significant budget cuts' (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)
Ramzy Alwakeel14 April 2015

More than 250 firefighters have signed an open letter urging people not to vote Tory in light of what they call "a sustained and vicious attack on frontline emergency services".

It follows a letter published in the Telegraph last month in which 100 business leaders backed the Conservatives and praised the party's economic plans.

Introducing the letter on his blog, West Midlands firefighter Andrew - whose surname the Standard has agreed not to publish - wrote: "We must show that 100 FTSE 100 executives do not represent the British public. We value our public services far more than we value making a small percentage of already wealthy people more wealthy."

Speaking to the Standard today, he added: "The Tory-led coalition government has decimated the UK fire and rescue service and firefighters are at the point now where we do not feel we can guarantee the response they expect.

"London Fire Brigade has been hit very hard with cuts and I know from speaking to colleagues there that they agree with my synopsis in this letter. The capital is not as safe as it was five years ago - Boris Johnson has shut fire stations like they were just windows on a cold day. It is time we started telling our ruling bodies that we will not accept the continued chopping of our vital services."

Ten London fire stations shut last year as part of the Fifth London Safety Plan - more than the sum of the total closures in the preceding 50 years.

Sixteen fire engines - 14 pumps and two specialist fire rescue units - as well as 552 firefighter jobs went in the capital, while more than half London's wards reportedly saw response times increase in the months following, with the average wait time for a fire engine reportedly jumping up to nearly eight minutes in Newham's Royal Docks area.

Goodbye: Two firefighters say an emotional farewell as Clerkenwell Fire Station closes (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)
ALEX BADCOCK LEAVING CLERKENWELL FIRE STATION TODAY AFTER 29 YEARS AT THE STATION PICTURE JEREMY SELWYN 09/01/2014

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority's chairman James Cleverly said at the time: "The brigade is faced with significant budget cuts which mean changes to the service are inevitable and we are able to make those changes without compulsory redundancies.

"The firefighters based at the stations closing will now transfer to other stations and continue the excellent work they do to prevent fires, which is vital in changing the behaviours that start fires in the first place."

At the time, the closures were in part justified by a fall in the number of fires across the capital.

The text of Andrew's letter reads: "David Cameron and George Osborne have continued a sustained and vicious attack on all front-line emergency services for five years. The lowering of fire service budgets across the country by 20 per cent has caused nothing but a heightened risk to firefighters and the public they serve.

"The result for the fire service has been that since 2010, 39 fire stations have closed, 145 fire engines have been scrapped and over 5,000 firefighter positions have been axed.

"This has raised response time considerably to the point that some brigades have dropped the five-minute maximum response times we were once so proud of and that has saved thousands of lives."

Since its publication on April 1, more than 100 firefighters have added their names to the letter.

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