Since the abolition of the GLC, the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority (LFCDA) has been making continuous cuts in London’s fire service. A thousand firefighters’ jobs have gone and seventeen fire engines have been scrapped. The LFCDA has now estimated that if this year’s Standard Spending Assessment is no more favourable than last year’s, it will be forced not only to spend its reserves, but to make yet more cuts. These cuts could be as deep as the closure of two fire stations and the reduction of four others to part-time crewing.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has now been forced into the unenviable position of having to ask a Labour government to reconsider proposed cuts, which if carried out will not only affect firefighters’ employment, but will hit a service vital to the lives of millions of Londoners. The FBU organised a mass picket of the Department of the Environment on 14th November and is now preparing to take its case to the Labour Party. They point out that even London’s Chief Fire Officer has said “Our service is deteriorating to a level which is unacceptable”.
Writing to John Prescott, FBU London Region made it clear that if “the latest cuts go ahead, we are recommending to our members that we ballot for strike action”. The position the firefighters are in is simply a result of Tory spending limits. Adhering to those limits, and refusing to consider an alternative economic strategy which could begin to resolve the fundamental problems faced, means that successive groups of natural Labour supporters are finding themselves in conflict with their government.
Students are now battling against proposals for tuition fees and the abolition of grants. These will not only fail to resolve the funding problems in higher education, but will leave thousands of people with several years of hardship and then lifelong debt. Almost symbolically the Government has carried on with the cuts in lone parent benefit which will hit the poorest people in our society the hardest. Simultaneously, allowing the Bank of England to raise interest rates five times has now had a real impact on Labour-voting middle income earners.
The Government’s narrow economic framework is also one of the key factors in its proposals for the new Greater London Authority. The Government’s Green Paper on the GLA says, “any additional spending in setting up the GLA would need to be offset by savings...Thereafter, the savings achieved will allow the GLA to secure a wider and better range of strategic activities for London without increasing spending.” It is simply not possible to improve London’s fire service without committing extra resources, but the Government has set itself against the introduction of a London corporation tax. In addition the Green Paper rules out an accountable structure for the LFCDA, which will become a Board responsible to the GLA, while its members will be appointed directly by the Mayor, with some representation from the London Boroughs.
As long as Labour remains within its current economic framework there is no reason to believe that other groups within society will not find themselves in conflict with the Government. A London firefighters’ strike would take place in the run-up not only to the London Borough elections in May, but also to the referendum on the Greater London Authority. The Government must consider what effect such a dispute will have on Labour’s support — the sight of green goddesses on the streets during the last Labour Government is one of the enduring memories of the worst days of that administration. This dispute is an indication of the deep tensions at work between Labour’s aspirations and its current economic framework. If the firefighters are forced to strike to defend the fire service in London, they will deserve the backing of every member of the Labour Party committed to saving lives in the capital.