TAX-DODGERS should pay their dues in the knowledge that “one day your house may catch fire,” Jeremy Corbyn told the Fire Brigades Union conference yesterday as he welcomed their reaffiliation to Labour.

The Labour leader highlighted the worrying recent rise in fire deaths, saying he was “blaming a government that has underfunded the service so that stations have closed.”

He praised firefighters’ efforts in dealing with devastating flooding in Cumbria and called for “a statutory obligation on flooding and flood protection” — a call that was also endorsed by the union in a conference motion.

He pledged to “rebuild the fire service,” saying recent Tory attempts to “change terms and conditions and steal from your pension scheme” was “an absolutely outrageous way to treat firefighters.”

The FBU reaffiliated to Labour in November last year. It had disaffiliated 12 years previously following clashes with the New Labour government in a huge pay dispute, during which fire minister Nick Raynesford branded strikers “criminally irresponsible.”

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack told a fringe meeting on Thursday night that Labour’s new left leadership was being “bullied” by Labour MPs.

“There’s a witch-hunt about [Labour left group] Momentum people bullying, but there’s a huge amount of bullying going on in Parliament against the leadership,” he said.

And he hit back at fears over leftwingers pushing for de-selection of MPs. “When they talk about reselection the right-wing are masters of reselection … getting rid of the people they don’t like,” he said.

He warned there was “a battle going on” within the party as members were expelled for left-wing views and he called for more working-class parliamentary candidates.

“The idea that you can come out of university and get a seat for life at the age of 26, I think that’s an affront to democracy,” he said.

A number of firefighters told the meeting they had faced hostility or indifference from the party establishment when attempting to get engaged.

North Yorkshire brigade secretary Stephen Howley, who stood as a Police and Crime Commissioner candidate last week, said he had received “no support” from regional party officials and had to rely on the campaign efforts of union activists and Momentum.
conradlandin@peoples-press.com