Fire Cuts in London Conference notes that on the afternoon of 12 September, the London Fire and Emergency Planning

Authority was forced by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, to implement the fifth London Safety Plan despite being opposed to the cuts included in this plan and despite having voted against these cuts on four previous occasions. These cuts include 10 fire stations including Belsize in Camden, Bow in Tower Hamlets, Clerkenwell in Islington, Downham in Lewisham, Kingsland in Hackney, Knightsbridge in Kensington and Chelsea, Silvertown in Newham, Southwark, Westminster and Woolwich in Greenwich, 14 fire engines, including one from Peckham, and 550 firefighter jobs. Conference condemns Boris Johnson for ignoring the views of the London Fire Authority, ignoring the opposition of the London Assembly and failing to listen to 94% of the Londoners who took part in the consultation on cuts outlined in the fifth London Safety Plan. Conference condemns the Mayors refusal to properly consider the disproportionate impact of the cuts on some of the most deprived parts of London increasing the time it will take for fire engines to arrive at incidents to well over target times. Conference supports all those campaigning against the cuts to the Fire Brigade and welcomes the legal action being taken by a number of London boroughs and the Fire Brigades Union. Conference urges the Mayor to reconsider his cuts to emergency services and abandon his reckless plan to prioritise cutting council tax by just a penny a day above properly funding the London Fire Brigade.