February 24th, 2013 |
A Fire Sale ?
A regular onlineFOCUS reader has contacted us because he is concerned about possible plans to privatise the Fire Service.
The Daily Mirror reported earlier this month:
All 46 fire and rescue services in England could be sold off to private firms under secret Government plans.Local government minister Brandon Lewis calls for new laws that “would enable fire and rescue authorities in England to contract out their full range of services to a suitable provider” in a letter obtained by the Mirror.He continues: “I appreciate that the proposals are not without controversy; however these changes will help remove barriers and to increase choices that fire and rescue authorities have to contract out their services.
The campaign group 38 degrees is running an online petition on its website here – it has over 95000 names so far. The webpage frustratingly doesn’t have very much information, for people who like to check things out before signing anything.
However on their emails to supporters they include a link to a letter. The letter was sent by government minister Brandon Lewis to our local MP James Duddridge, in his capacity as the chair of a House of Commons committee. You can download the letter here, but here’s a snippet (click to enlarge)
As we said above, if you want to oppose this, you can sign the petition here.
Ron Oatham
Trevor Parrett
Bruce Smart
Chris Stanley
Pam Waldie
Elena Black
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February 24th, 2013 at 08:02
I have signed!
February 25th, 2013 at 07:02
Me too. I have always been opposed to this kind of thing. This time it is all the worse, for the fact that saving lives is a heroic service carried out by our firefighters not something that can take profits and shareholders into account.
February 25th, 2013 at 10:02
I’ve signed. I get regular up-dates from 38 degrees and they are very good at picking up this sort of thing and organising a quick reaction. They recently whipped up over 50,000 signatures in about 24 hours when it looked as though the proposal for nuclear waste storage in the Lake District would go ahead. You can find out more about them on Facebook and their web page does have an about us and FAQs bit for those who like to check things out a bit before signing things.