Joe TraySWINDON firefighters say Tony Blair's Government has stabbed them through the heart.

Joe Tray, the union's secretary for Wiltshire and Swindon, has just returned from the Fire Brigades Union conference in Southport.

The decision was made to disaffiliate the union from the party after 86 years, depriving Labour of the union's practical support and £50,000 per year in donations.

Mr Tray represents about 600 personnel across Wiltshire, some 120 of whom are based in Swindon.

He said: "I went to Southport with a clear mandate from our members. I would say that 98 percent of them support the disaffiliation.

"They believe that not only has this Government, a Labour government, turned its back on the working class it has also stabbed firefighters through the heart as well.

"During our longstanding dispute over a pay rise, this Government accused us of being wreckers. They demonised us and clearly have no respect for the finest fire service in the world. We have severed our historic link with the party after more than 80 years.

"The Government is letting down all of its local Labour people. It has distanced itself from working people at grass roots level. It has turned its back on us."

Meanwhile, the prospect of strike action by firefighters looms ever closer.

The FBU says the Government is going back on an agreement reached following strike action last year to take the basic salary of a qualified firefighter to £25,000.

The Government accuses firefighters of failing to implement modernisation measures which were the FBU's end of the bargain, while the FBU refutes this and points out that the Audit Commission says firefighters are obeying the terms of the agreement.

Mr Tray said the union would be campaigning for its cause over the next six weeks, and that one-day strikes might follow if the union's demand was not met.

If strikes go ahead, firefighting duties will be adopted by the Army, manning antiquated Green Goddess' engines.

Barrie Hudson