Milton Keynes Labour Group calls for Conservatives to apologise for ‘making up’ proposals to cut fire service levels across the county
Milton Keynes Labour Group has called for the Conservatives to apologise for ‘making up’ proposals to cut fire service levels.
The call comes on the eve of a Milton Keynes City Council meeting on Wednesday October 22 when the Conservatives are expected to table a motion calling on the council to oppose cuts to fire services across Buckinghamshire.
The Labour Party are expected to respond that they are happy to oppose any cuts, which they describe as a ‘fabrication.’
Last week, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority, which has been run by a coalition of Liberal Democrats, Labour and Independent councillors since May 2025, held an emergency meeting to discuss the cuts.
A motion to stop the cuts was blocked during the meeting, with seven members of the authority, all Conservatives, voting in favour, and ten members, all Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors opposed.
The Milton Keynes Labour Group is also set to call on their political opponents to apologise for ‘cuts’ the Conservatives made when running the fire authority, including closing Great Holm and Bletchley fire stations in 2016.
Labour leader of the city council Pete Marland 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.
“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.
“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.”