SPENDING on Britain’s fire & rescue services must be restored to 2010 levels to cope with increasing floods and disasters, firefighters’ leaders have demanded.

In government, Labour will need to reverse 13 years of Tory austerity that has seen fire stations closed, appliances axed and 20 per cent of firefighters’ jobs cut, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said.

The union recently reported that six homes which might have been saved were destroyed in a blaze in Scotland when firefighters’ arrival was delayed because an appliance and crew had been axed to cut costs.

The FBU, which is affiliated to the Labour Party, is to launch a firefighters’ manifesto next week setting out its vision for the future of fire & rescue services.

General secretary Matt Wrack said that unless Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves restored funding, communities could be “failed by another generation of politicians.”

“More than a decade of Tory cuts has left the fire service overwhelmed, underfunded and badly managed,” he said.

“Firefighters are the front line of flood response. The last few days have laid bare the damage austerity has done to our ability to protect communities from this growing threat.

“We have lost one in five firefighter jobs since 2010 and a large number of stations and fire engines. Response times are now at record highs.”

Mr Wrack said the Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire by-elections signalled that Labour was a government in waiting. He called for the restoration of funding to be a priority early in Labour’s first term in office.