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

London has been discussing it for quite some time. As a leading member, were you consulted on the Deputy Prime Minister's statement yesterday?

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

But they have been striking for quite some time. Now, you are a leading member. Were you consulted on the Deputy Prime Minister's statement yesterday?

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

Do you think the intervention yesterday actually advanced the settlement of the strike?

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

I hope not. I am aware that the employers welcomed the statement. Were the employers consulted by the Deputy Prime Minister before yesterday's announcement?

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

Pursuing the same subject if I may - the Bain Review in a paragraph headed, "Local Leadership" said that it was disappointing to have been told that the leadership and general input from local politicians to the fire authorities is poor. I am not suggesting that this necessarily relates particularly, or indeed perhaps at all, to LFEPA, but there is a point, I think, which arises, for LFEPA in it. It goes on to recommend that the Local Government Association, "takes steps to develop the contribution of elected members on fire authorities and to ensure that they give stronger leadership...

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

And when do you think London will begin to see a tangible benefit from this step forward yesterday?

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

Wholeheartedly?

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

Do you support it?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

Do you really feel, though, that sort of hard line approach is really going to lead to an effective Fire Service and harmonious working relations with the workforce, or do you believe it's just a negotiating trick; it's just a trick to get them back round the negotiating table, and it's not a serious proposal at all?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 29 January 2003

There is a lot of talk about modernisation, but do you think it's very modern for the Deputy Prime Minister to be invoking emergency legislation from the 1940s to impose a pay deal on firefighters?