• Luke talked with Firefighters about the daily struggle being a front-line firefighter

• Tory austerity has seen a 19% cut to firefighters since 2010.

• “I won’t vote for cuts that hit the far South-West”

On 4th October, Luke was given the pleasure of visiting the Greenbank Fire station. After a quick tour of the station, Luke sat down with firefighters to hear about the struggles that they face on a daily basis.

Luke expressed his thanks to the firefighters and took on board the concerns expressed to him:

“Firefighters are amazing. They do their jobs under extreme conditions and without complaint, they are the real heroes in our community. I took away the concerns facing the firefighters and I will be raising these concerns with Ministers and will report back to them.”

The Fire Brigades Union recently announced that since the Tories took office in 2010, there has been a 19% cut in front line officers. The cuts to the fire service have been a big issue in Plymouth. A few months ago, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service announced they would need to close a number of fire stations across the region with full-time stations downgraded to retained stations.

Luke doubled down on his pledge to never vote for cuts to the Fire Service:

“I won’t vote for cuts that hit the far South-West and this is why. Fire cover is vital. The work they do in fighting fires, rescuing people from crisis and – perhaps just as importantly – in preventing fires and accidents cannot be done on the cheap. I want to say a big thank you to these firefighters for their hard work.”