Fire cuts in London and consultati​on - Hillingdon meeting this Tuesday

A public meeting on the Mayor's propsals to get rid of 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 fire fighters across the capital, will be held in Hillingdon at 7pm, Tuesday 2 April,  at Middlesex Suite, Hillingdon Civic Centre, High Street, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1UW

The Labour London Assembly Members of the London  Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) voted against Mayor Johnson’s proposals.

Despite the Fire Authority voting against the cuts, as they will risk the lives and properties of Londoners, Mayor Boris Johnson issued a directive to overrule this vote and proceed to consultation on his plans. This consultation is running from 4 March until 28 May.

The Mayor tried to stop the Fire Authority consulting the public through public meetings for each Borough, but the Authority are going ahead with meetings despite his wishes and twenty-four public meetings are being held in different London boroughs.

The implications of the Mayor’s proposals are very serious – it will take longer for a fire engine to reach 4.7 million Londoners when they need one. Every second counts in a fire as a domestic fire can quadruple in intensity every 2 minutes.

London’s fire chief has said the cuts are driven by financial considerations but we think the safety and security of Londoners should come first. Boris Johnson wants to cut the council tax by the equivalent of just 1p per day for a property in Band D. Labour’s GLA members think most Londoners would prefer him to put the penny towards the fire brigade instead.

For more information on how the cuts will affect you click here.

To have you say on the consultation click here.

Stunning victory for Labour GLA candidate

Newly elected GLA member
Dr Onkar Sahota

Dr Onkar Sahota has made local history by winning the Ealing and Hillingdon seat for the London Assembly for the Labour Party for the first time.

Labour’s Dr Sahota defeated Conservative Councillor  Richard Barnes by 3,110 votes, overturning a majority of 28,638.

 Dr Sahota, an Ealing GP and Hayes resident, said: "We have had a mountain to climb but we fought a good campaign."

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Candidate name	Party	Votes	Votes %	Majority
Onkar Sahota	Labour Party	65,584	40.04	3,110
Richard Barnes	Conservative Party	62,474	38.14
Michael Cox	London Liberal Democrats	11,805	7.21
Mike Harling	Green Party	10,877	6.64
Helen Louise Knight	Fresh Choice for London (UKIP)	6,750	4.12
David Furness	British National Party	4,284	2.62
Ian Edward	National Front Putting Londoners First	2,035	1.24
Source: London Elects	Total number of good votes	163,809	100.00

The defeated Conservative Councillor Richard Barnes, had been the GLA member for Ealing and Hillingdon for 12 years and was Boris Johnson’s Statutory Deputy Mayor from  2008 until 2012. He continues to be a L.B. Hillingdon Councillor for the Harefield ward.

Unfortunately Ken Livingstone, after a hard fought campaign, narrowly failed to regain the London Mayoralty for Labour.