PAY UP NOW OR PEOPLE WILL DIE
Firefighters’ stark warning to ministers over funding freeze
A TRADE union chief has warned that a Scottish Government funding freeze will lead to more people dying in house fires.
The Fire Brigade Union’s John McKenzie said cuts to the service will trigger job losses and longer response times for emergencies.
The SNP/Green Government’s spending review allocated increases to social security, but frontline services are likely to feel the pinch.
The fire service was pencilled in for £294million funding in each year between 2022 and 2027, a freeze that would work out as a real terms cut.
McKenzie, the Regional Secretary for FBU Scotland, warned: “If it goes on for the five years that the spending review indicated that it would, it will undoubtedly mean a cut to firefighter numbers.
“If somebody is involved in a house fire, road traffic collision – whatever nature the emergency incident it is – we now take a minute longer to get there than we did 10 years ago.
“Take that forward five years... that will just be replicated. The long and the short of it is that it will ultimately result in more people losing their lives in house fires who otherwise would not have done.” a Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have supported the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service with substantial budget increases in recent years, with the annual budget for 2022-23 now over £45.3million higher than it was in 2017-18.”
“The number of firefighters per head of population is also higher in Scotland than in other parts of the UK with figures from March 2021 showing 11.8 firefighters per 10,000 population in Scotland compared with 6.2 in England and 10 in Wales.”