BONFIRE night is always one of the busiest nights of the year for our hardworking firefighters. How ironic they have suffered two blows in quick succession.

First, Tory ministers’ negotiations with the Fire Brigade Union over firefighters’ pensions has been shambolic and deeply irresponsible.

David Cameron’s dismissal of valid concerns put forward by the FBU over pensions, coupled with an expectation firefighters should attend fires and other emergencies until they are 60 (and to meet the same fitness standard as 20-year-olds) has given the FBU no alternative but to call strike action. Strike action is deeply regrettable and the Government should never have got into this position.

The Government has already presided over 46 separate periods of FBU strike action since September 2013.

The new Fire Minister, Penny Mordaunt, offered firefighters warm words and raised hopes, only to deliver nothing. She has put down the same offer her predecessor proposed in June 2013.

The second bombshell came with the announcement that fire-fighting provision in Wyre Forest is going to be “rationalised” in order to “generate efficiencies”. As we know, this is Tory-speak for “closed” or “cut”. It is proposed the fire stations in Kidderminster, Bewdley and Stourport are going to be closed and replaced by a single site to cover the whole Wyre Forest.

In a panic Mark Garnier, whose voice clearly carries little weight, was heard on the radio calling for the head of beleaguered Fire Authority chairman Derek Prodger. Has Mr Garnier forgotten Mr Prodger is a Tory county councillor making these closures in response to Tory cuts in local government spending, which our local Tory MP has supported?

When I was growing up in Kidderminster as a child, “Remember, remember, the fifth of November” was a popular refrain.

Pity the Tories seem to have forgotten our hard-pressed firefighters or the right of the people of Wyre Forest to have adequate fire cover.

Dr Matt Lamb Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Wyre Forest.