Labour calls for apology from Tories over fabricated “cuts” to fire services

Milton Keynes Labour Party have called on Conservative councillors and MPs to apologise for making up suggestions that there are proposals to cut firefighters and fire service levels across MK and Buckinghamshire.

Labour are also accusing the Conservatives of failing to take responsibility for decades of mismanagement of the service in the county, which led to two independent government inspections judging Bucks Fire “inadequate.”

A Conservative motion to Milton Keynes City Council will be discussed this evening asking the council to oppose cuts to fire services in Milton Keynes. The Labour Party will respond that they are happy to oppose any “cuts” because the so called “cuts” are a total fabrication.

MK Labour will point out that, in fact, the independent HMICFRS, which inspects police and fire services, twice highlighted that under the Conservatives the service was failing because it was operating “ghost” fire stations and “ghost” fire engines that had no firefighters to operate them. HMICFRS criticised the Conservative-led authority for failing to reform the service and leaving it dangerously under-staffed.

The service struggles to recruit “on-call” firefighters, who are part-time staff who have normal jobs and only attend emergencies, and therefore a number of stations and fire engines across Buckinghamshire that rely on them are never open or operational.

MK Labour Council leader Cllr Peter Marland and Emily Darlington MP, who have both previously been members of the fire authority, continually raised concerns over the past decade about serious under staffing of the Bucks fire service and how reliance on “on-call” staff left the county dangerously low on fire cover, concerns that the Conservatives failed to listen to and dismissed, despite damning independent inspections.

A coalition of Liberal Democrats, Labour and Independent councillors took control of Bucks Fire Authority in May 2025, the first time in its existence it hasn’t been run by the Conservatives. The new leadership soon got to work, with officers starting to explore options to put right decades of Tory failure. Senior officers held internal discussions about possible changes to the service, including looking at redirecting resources away from “ghost” stations and “ghost” fire engines with no staff to man them, into more effective fire cover that can actually be used.

Unfortunately, even though discussions were at an early stage and no proposals have been made, Conservative councillors and MPs in Buckinghamshire started to claim fire cuts that reduce the operational capacity of the service have been proposed, and this untrue.

Labour are now calling on Conservatives to issue an apology for causing unnecessary concern and misleading the public.

Labour are also calling on the Conservatives to own their dismal record running the fire service in the county and their failure to reform the service to keep residents safe, while also calling on Tories to acknowledge the real cuts they made to services in Milton Keynes when they voted to close Great Holm and Bletchley fire stations in 2016.

Cllr Peter Marland, Labour Leader of Milton Keynes City Council said:

“The Conservatives across MK and Buckinghamshire should be ashamed of misleading the public and fabricating the total lie that there are planned cuts to fire service capacity in Buckinghamshire. They should apologise.”

He continued:

“Frankly, it is quite clear how utterly contemptuous and arrogant they are in failing to be honest with the public over the mess they left the fire service for the county in. Not even two independent reports highlighting that the service was inadequate was enough!

“Put simply, they left a situation that requires real change to put right. It is utterly bizarre that they would defend and even celebrate how they ran a fire service that has ghost fire stations and ghost fire engines that never get used because there are no firefighters to actually staff them.”

He concluded:

“MK Labour is very happy to make clear, that unlike the Tories who voted to close Great Holm and Bletchley fire stations and made real fire service cuts in MK, Labour would not support any cuts to the operational fire service in Milton Keynes, and I’m pleased to say that none are being proposed.

“Actually, we want to see the service reformed so instead of Tory ghost stations and Tory ghost fire engines, we see appliances being used by properly trained firefighters who are actually real.

“Using made-up cuts to scare the public is a desperate act of a political party who might well cease to exist in Milton Keynes after the elections in May next year. The reality is that if arrogant Buckinghamshire & MK Conservatives think they can make-up cuts to hide their decades of failure and salvage votes, it will not work.”