Prime Minister tells Fire and Rescue Service that cuts must be “sustainable”

Prime Minister David Cameron has told the Fire and Rescue Service that cuts imposed should be "sustainable" when he spoke at a PM Direct event at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in Birmingham. His remarks followed Fire Minister Bob Neill's announcement of a Strategic Review of the Fire and Rescue Service. 

The Prime Minister said: "Let's try and make cuts in a way that's sustainable and let's try and make sure the Fire Service we have is capable of doing the very important work we want it to. But we've all got to open our minds and think how we can work in a different way."

He was asked: "When these austere times are over, will you look at anything that is cut during this period and go back and get those fire engines back in the places they are needed to support the public?"

The Prime Minster replied that "we should be trying to avoid that approach."