Commenting on reports that the Government is to axe IRUs
Commenting on reports that the Government is to axe four of London’s ten emergency Incident Response Units which include equipment for dealing with dirty bomb attacks, Labour’s London Assembly Fire spokesperson, Dr Fiona Twycross AM said:
“Given the serious continued threat from terrorism, particularly with the capital being a major target, this is an incredibly risky proposal.
“Cutting these specialist response units could severely hamper the emergency services’ ability to deal with a terrorist incident in the capital. The UK threat level has been at Severe for well over a year with the Prime Minister admitting recently that seven terror plots had been foiled in the last six months alone. Now is clearly not the time to be cutting our ability to deal with terrorist incidents should the worst happen.
“These are the kinds of units we hope we never have to deploy but if there is a serious terrorist incident in London its vital we have the equipment available to deal with it.”
Notes to editors
- Reports of the Government’s intention to scrap four of London’s ten Incident Response Units are available here.
- Home Secretary Theresa May MP raised the threat level in the UK from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ on August 29th 2014.
- The Prime Minister revealed that 7 terror plots had been foiled in the last 6 months following the Paris attacks in November.
- Dr Fiona Twycross AM is a Labour Londonwide Assembly Member
For more information please contact London Assembly Labour Group senior press officer, David Courcoux, on 020 7983 4952 or 07917 087 216. Number not for publication.