COUNCILLORS told of their upset at signing off £10m cuts that will lead to around 150 fire service jobs being axed and the number of engines culled.

Merseyside’s fire authority passed a two-year budget yesterday that will keep all the county’s 26 fire stations open – but with just one pump based at all but two of them.

At least 57 support staff will be made redundant, with 90 firefighter posts also to be made obsolete over the next two years.

The authority unanimously approved a 2% rise in the council tax precept to mitigate the impact of the slashed funding from central government.

The average Band D property will pay £68.70 in the precept to the fire service, up from £67.36.

Councillors told of their frustration and anger at having to implement the stark savings, but conceded that a lobbying campaign had probably saved “millions more” from being cut.

Support staff at risk of redundancy come from all areas of the fire service not directly related to operational response including areas such as fire prevention and marine rescue.

Cllr Dave Hanratty, chair of the fire authority, said: “It is a sad day that we are in this position, in a position that is not of our making.

“I feel sorry for all our staff because all they want to do is their job and as politicians it is our job to protect that.