THE MP at the forefront of a campaign for fairer fire service funding cuts said the ‘axe has been brought down evenly’.
John Healey, who represents Rotherham, said the £5 million budget reduction in South Yorkshire over the next two years could have been worse if the Government had not listened to concerns about the inequality of cuts two years earlier.
Mr Healey said: “The situation we faced in the first two years was unfair, unequal and unjustifiable.
“While some authorities were wondering how to spend the extra cash they had, the six metropolitan areas were working out how to cut 1,258 full-time firefighters, 69 retained firefighters and more than 550 other staff.
“A cut of nearly £5 million is nothing to celebrate and SYF will be forced to make some difficult decisions.
“But the Government have responded to our cross-party cross-area campaign and, although they remain intent on making big cuts to fire services, the axe has been brought down evenly.”
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