Addressing the Fire Brigades Union’s annual conference in Blackpool, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned that tax avoiders cannot continue to rely on the earnings of honest taxpayers to fund their emergency services.
“To those who use very clever means to escape paying tax, if one day their house catches fire – it’s the rest of us who have paid our taxes who are paying for their fire service.”
The Labour leader then told more than 200 firefighters: “Your industry has been treated very badly, with cuts that are wrong and unnecessary……with response times (to fires and other emergency rescues) the longest in 20 years. Your bravery is really incredible.”
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “It has been many years since a Labour leader addressed our union conference, and it was an honour for us to have Jeremy Corbyn addressing firefighters today, the final day of our conference.”
“He thanked our members specifically for all the work they did during the challenging winter months when the floods hit, backing our call for a statutory duty for the flood work our members engage in whenever required. It was heartening to hear Jeremy Corbyn’s recognition of this life-saving flood rescue work, something the government didn’t, or wouldn’t, do at the time.”
In an interview after his speech, Corbyn told the FBU's Tam McFarlane that he would "rebuild the fire service" if elected prime minister in 2020.
Watch Jeremy's speech to conference in full below.
