Diane Abbott responds to calls for more firefighters to cope with the rise in wild fires
04 Sep 2019
Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to the Fire Brigades Union calls for more staff to cope with rise in wild fires, said:“Our firefighters do an amazing job, but they are fighting emergencies with one hand tied behind their backs. The Tories have completely undermined the fire service with thousands of job cuts and by closing fire stations.
“Ministers are recklessly complacent. Wildfires are often huge incidents requiring very large numbers of firefighters to tackle them. The UK has had more wildfires in the first half of 2019 than any year on record. As the effects of climate change worsen we need more firefighters and resources. It will be a complete dereliction of duty if ministers don’t make good their own cuts to the fire service.”
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