Despite no progress in negotiations over the government’s proposals on firefighters’ pensions, the Westminster fire minister, Brandon Lewis, has said that he will start a formal public consultation on the government’s pension changes.
At present it is not clear exactly what the public will be consulted on and whether all the relevant information will be released.
It’s vital that MPs, fire and rescue authorities, ministers in other parts of the UK, the public and firefighters themselves are fully informed in order to provide genuine feedback.
We know that the government has explored other options and worked out how much they would cost.
Unfortunately none of this information has been made available to the public or to ministers in Wales or Scotland.
How can any such consultation therefore be genuine?
To help ensure the information is released, the FBU has produced a campaign tool enabling firefighters and their supporters to write to their MP.
