London Fire Brigade faces £18m in cuts, FBU warns
Lewis Tyler
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The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has claimed that the London Fire Brigade (LFB) is facing £6 million in budget cuts, with a further £12 million in what it described as “unidentified savings.”
In a statement released on its website, the union criticised the LFB for borrowing heavily for a new headquarters redevelopment while threatening these cuts to the already overstretched frontline.
It said that the LFB 2026-2027 budget submission also removes key operational budgets such as for uniform and communications upgrades.
David Shek, Fire Brigades Union Executive Council Member for London said that “senior leaders of the London Fire Brigade are sitting on reserves and borrowing millions for property projects while fire engines sit idle, without enough firefighters to crew them.”
The FBU has alleged that between 1 January and 8 November 2025, the full fleet of fire engines was only available for 33 shifts as a result of cuts to crewing, amounting to 1 in 20 shifts.
It said the last time that every LFB fire engine was available was 30 September.