North East set to be big loser on firefighter cuts

THE Government is being urged to protect fire services from cuts that could result in more than 2,000 job losses - and leave Tyne and Wear as one of the country’s worst-hit areas.

- DANIEL HOLLAND

A report from the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) last week warned that fire and rescue services are facing £102m worth of real terms budgets cut due to proposed Government grant reductions and changes to how it distributes money to councils.

The situation has been branded “incomprehensible” with concerns that the cuts would equate to the loss of up to 2,300 firefighters across the country, while the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) has predicted it will be “amongst the worst affected” under Labour's Fair Funding Review 2.0 as things stand.

Tom Woodwark, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Newcastle and opposition leader on the Tyne and Wear Fire Authority, said that “fairer” funding was needed to avoid local council taxpayers being hit with “big increases” next year.