• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

Heathrow is a little different to the rest of London.

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

I would depart from your view on that. Too many people believe that London is central London, and almost inner London. A number of us here represent outer London, where joint working is almost crucial. And I can think of the northern part of my own constituency in Ruislip Northwood, where we have no ambulance station, and we are dependent on ambulances trawling around the street, shall we say, and yet we have a fire station, which is two-thirds empty, with all of the support mechanisms that they need, yet they will not allow the Ambulance Service to use it...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

In what areas do you anticipate that there will be more joint working with the other emergency services as a result of the Bain Review of the fire service?

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

Londoners will find it very difficult to understand that you're not actually aiding and abetting the strike by allowing this stuff to be festooning these fire stations, public buildings all over London for more than a month. You have just told us that you want to get it down as soon as possible. The truth of the matter is, isn't it, that you have completely failed. Management at LFEPA level has been a complete disaster and Londoners are being totally let down by you so far as this is concerned.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

So what you're saying is that actually the implementation of Bain would possibly help towards sorting out the situation and membership of the FBU?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

I recognise that the problem seems to be partly to do with the fact that the membership of the FBU extends right the way up, as I understand it in some cases, to borough commanders, who've been seen on picket lines. And this is absolutely unacceptable. I recognise that you feel that there is a problem there. My question is what could be done? As I understand it, you can't actually enforce a situation in which you would ask senior officers to step out of the union, nor indeed, presumably, even by offering an alternative union, can you force them...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

Are you sure it doesn't depend which Government it was?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

So if the Government took that step, would you support them?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

Coming to the question, would you agree with me that it is time for us to outlaw this type of industrial action that puts lives at risk?

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

Well, of course, those of us with long memories heard this sort of argument at the time of the miners' strikes. "Oh you can"t go in there. It will be dreadful. It will sew up seeds of disaster for ever'. Look what happened there. It may well be that there are substantial lessons that management could learn from the way that those strikes were resolved, and the way that that particular industry is now managed. Perhaps the whole thing is now completely anti-diluvian. You say that nothing has happened in 25 years. What particularly makes me sorry is that nothing...