MERSEYSIDE’S chief fire officer led a delegation to the House of Commons to lobby MPs about the dangers of making more cuts to the service.
It came as a report to the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority warned of “the very real likelihood” of compulsory redundancies to achieve the necessary savings likely to be demanded by government.
Chief fire officer Dan Stephens joined his counterparts from the five other metropolitan fire authorities outside London to brief politicians – including Walton MP Steve Rotheram – on the dangers of further significant government budget cuts.
They pointed out that the metropolitan authorities provided much of the fire and rescue service’s national resilience to manage the threat from terrorism, flooding and climate change.
The Government has already indicated that the services face even greater grant reductions in years 2013/14 and 2014/15.
