by our industrial reporter @TrinderMatt

FIRE and rescue services are “struggling to provide basic functions” after more than a decade of Tory austerity, firefighters warned today.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) spoke out after inspectors found that a number of services across England “required improvement” when it came to “effectively and efficiently keeping people safe and secure” from risk.

The FBU said the damning findings of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services were an inevitable consequence of years of cuts.

“The government will not be surprised at these findings [as] this is its decade-old project to cut public services working exactly as expected,” FBU assistant general secretary Andy Dark said.

“The government needs to start reinvesting to make up for the shortfall in funding, end austerity and start taking public safety seriously.”

The FBU also hit out after Sir Thomas Winsor, in his final report as chief inspector of England’s fire and rescue services, said that “outdated and ineffective structures” for negotiating pay, terms and conditions should be changed to reduce the possibility of industrial action.

He went on to say that removing firefighters’ right to strike “should be considered” if “no progress is made on national reform.”

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “It is not clear how removing firefighters’ rights to democratically organise would help keep the public safer — in fact, having a fair structure where employers and employees can come together to work through issues helps protect public safety.

“If Sir Tom Winsor was serious about improving the fire and rescue service, he might suggest putting back some of the one in every five firefighters which have been cut since 2010.”