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Boris Johnson takes £30m from fire brigade to boost Met
Peter Dominiczak, City Hall Correspondent18 Nov 2011
Boris Johnson was today accused of putting lives at risk in a bid to keep his promise to maintain police numbers in the capital.
The Mayor is to take £30 million from the fire brigade next year and give it to the Met Police to help him achieve a key election pledge to keep officer numbers high after the Olympics.
Critics today accused him of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and said the fire service would be very seriously hit.
It emerged this week that Scotland Yard will be forced to make further cuts in police officer and staff numbers unless it makes extra savings of more than £450 million over the next three years. Anne McMeel, the Met's director of resources, said that unless the savings are made the police would not be able to meet the Mayor's pledge on numbers.
Mr Johnson promised the Met the extra £30 million on condition the force keeps numbers at 32,320 until after the Olympics and then at 31,957 until 2015.
He described the bid to redirect funds from the fire service to the police as "responsible and desirable". But Ben Sprung, London Fire Brigades Union regional organiser, today slammed the move.
He said: "The fire service will have lost £50 million over a period of two years, a huge sum we cannot afford. The Tory-controlled fire authority now claims it has so much money to spare it can give away another £30 million. To firefighters it looks like a cynical fix in advance of the GLA elections next year because policing is higher up the election agenda.
"Policing is again expected to be a major issue and money is being taken from our accounts to bolster the police budget. This is playing politics at the expense of the fire service, which will face a huge budget squeeze after the Olympics.
"It is robbing Peter to pay Paul. This will have a huge impact on the fire service. Every second can cost lives when it comes to the fire service. This would be a huge mistake."
A spokesman for the Mayor said: "In tough times it vital and inevitable that scarce resources have to be prioritised to where they are needed most. The GLA budget is in its fairly early stages but redirecting funds from London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority reserves to the policing front line is both responsible and desirable."
Reader views (13)
Not looking very good for the next mayoral election is it your worship.
Is there really no-one of a decent calibre to be put forward for the mayors job in the whole of London.
- stuart, chesterfield,derbyshire, 24/11/2011 15:32
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Tories always spend loads on their army, he's a modern day Thatcher.
- I know why, Hackney, London, 21/11/2011 10:03
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Why not cancel the Olympics now and turn the whole lot into a pleasure park.
- Charly, London, 21/11/2011 10:01
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What Tom, London say shows how the say there is no money and then can transfer £60 million something that shows how incompetent Boris aand his cronies are when it comes to book keeping and understanding local government finances.
This also shows how false their arguements against former Mayor Ken are when he said he would cut fares using a £700 million balance in TFL accounts and if anyone should understand TFL accounts it Ken Livingstone who gained years of experience in local government while Boris knew nothing!!
Politics must be the only proffession where the person with the least knowledge gets the top job!!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 20/11/2011 18:19
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well there you are people, evidence straight from the horses mouth that YOUR services are being cut even though there is no financial reason for it as this government are claiming over and over again. the london fire brigade has been absolutely cut to pieces under boris and his right hand man coleman. apparently because there's no money. us firemen have been hit with a 3 year pay freeze because aparrently there's no money. yet here we have the exact same authority members that made those claims saying they have so much money they can even afford to give away a further £30 million on top of the £30 million they're already giving away. £60 million just sitting there yet they need to continue cutting the service. we aren't even aloud to carry drinking water anymore to rehydrate after going into fires because apparently we can't afford it. even i'm surprised at how much the people of london are totally disregarded by boris and his service cutting henchmen. they don't even pretend to care what we know or think about it. they're so blazen with their cuts and comments it's as if they have nothing but contempt for londoners. anyone votes for boris next year you really need your heads looked at. all you'll be voting for are yet more unnecessary cuts and yet more unnecesary privatisation. please think hard about what you'll be doing to your families under this man!!! he plays a good fool and i'm sure in a pub he'd be a good laugh, that's no reason for letting him destroy vital services
- tom, london, 19/11/2011 17:18
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the fire authority say they have so much money to spare they can give away another £30 million eh. so why in that case are they constantly pulling the brigade to pieces saying we can't afford it anymore? and if they've got £30 million to just give away, how about sharing it among us firefighters so we can actually afford to suport our famillies instead of the 3 year pay freeze. and maybee that means they no longer feel the need to sell off our in house training and control center. one minute they're making massive cuts because we can't afford anything and need to make savings, and in the next breath we've got so much money we're litterally giving it away. does this help all you non believers that you're being sold a lie that YOUR services are being cut because we apparently can't afford them. stop believing this nonsence, it's just good old tories making good old tory cuts!!!
- tom, london, 19/11/2011 14:52
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Only Bo Bo would believe this to be good politics.
Its robbing Emergency Peter to pay Emergency Paul.
Fly away Borris , fly away city hall.
- Terry The Tube Driver, London, 18/11/2011 22:01
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The Met squanders money like no other organisation and gets rid of the people that were making plenty of savings, and now you get bumble giving them more money to waste. Get rid of the FD at the Met and put someone more commercial and less political and then spot the difference. Just see how her team has bcome all female in the past 18 months after getting rid of the male acheivers (including hr which now sits under her)
- himfromthere, UK, 18/11/2011 19:01
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Thats the right thing to do... its not your average fireman we take issue with but last month the NFB Union took issue with a cap on pension payments aimed at hitting goldman sachs bankers (the amount you could pay in Vs tax relief etc) because some of their members were caught up by the act...
- Fulhamite, Fulham, 18/11/2011 16:14
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Even if we do have a fire, lets hope it's not down a hole.
- shallotman, Basildon, 18/11/2011 14:40
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Let's hope we never have a fire setting riot. What in London!
- Charly, London, 18/11/2011 13:24
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The Banks are not Blameless and Boris talks Bivowacks.
- thentherewere4, London UK, 18/11/2011 12:11
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Go back to doing TV shows and photo-shoots. You have no idea how to run a city.
- John, London, 18/11/2011 11:42
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