Westminster fire minister Penny Mordaunt found herself challenged by a firefighter over the coalition government’s record on the fire and rescue service.
Mordaunt was one of several candidates for the Portsmouth North parliamentary seat who were being quizzed earlier this week by voters ahead of the general election.
When candidates were asked about how they would protect frontline services FBU member Mark Chapman challenged the minister after she said the government had invested in the fire and rescue service three times.
The Cosham firefighter was applauded by voters after telling the minister: “Your government has made a 20% reduction in fire service funding and has proposed a further 8.8% reduction for next year.
“The public have lost more than 40 fire stations, 146 fire engines and over 5000 frontline firefighter jobs have been lost.
“Firefighters are asking you to stop the cuts and allow them to protect the public, your constituents, as best as possible.”
Local firefighters also arranged a protest outside the event to highlight both the huge cuts to the fire and rescue service since 2010 and the unworkable pension scheme imposed on firefighters from 1 April.
Speaking after the event Mark Chapman urged other firefighters to go to their local hustings and speak to all candidates.
“Firefighters need to have their voices heard. These sort of events are the best place where we can speak directly to the people who will making decisions on the future of our service.
“We need to tell them the facts and make them realise that we cannot take another five years of these sort of cuts.”
You can find details on hustings taking place near where you live using the websitewww.meetyournextmp.com.
The Fire Brigades Union has called for an end to the cuts warning that the service will become increasingly threadbare and fragmented if investment is not made.
The union’s Sounding the alarm report found that in recent years the average emergency 999 response time has increased two minutes and fire engines are being dangerously and consistently understaffed.
