FIRE SERVICE (DISPUTE) (Hansard, 23 November 1977)

§ Mr. Grylls

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the living and working conditions of the Service men who are acting as firemen in the present dispute. I maintain that this matter is specific as some 14,500 soldiers, sailors, Royal Marines and airmen are actually involved, and many of these Service men are at present working between 80 and 100 hours a week in appalling conditions. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that I carry the whole House and you with me when I say that the living and working conditions of Service men are a matter of grave importance to all Members of the House. They are, after all, our constituents.

The matter is important because I am certain that the House will want to cross-examine Ministers as to why, for example, 1532 these Service men are not allowed to live in the comfortable, warm and modern fire stations but, instead, are forced to live in squalor and filth in leaky huts and draughty drill halls. Hon. Members will want to ask about that. Some hon. Members will want to tell the Government that it is a scandal that public property is not allowed to be used. While soldiers are risking their lives by day, by night they have to be prepared to doss down like tramps. That is why I hope, Mr. Speaker, that you will consider this matter to be important.

The matter is also urgent because only the House can force Ministers to do something to make the lives of these Service men tolerable in this emergency situation. These brave Service men who are undertaking this duty deserve urgent action being taken by the Secretary of State for Defence, or by the Home Secretary. As Ministers are responsible, after all, for this confrontation and as they sleep cosily in their beds at night, it might cause them to think about the living conditions that these Service men must endure and do something about it rather than just come to the House and say nothing. I hope that an opportunity will be presented urgently for something to be done about this matter.

The matter is also urgent because working conditions of these Service men are extremely dangerous for very obvious reasons. I was the first person to raise, about a week ago, the question of breathing apparatus. Various statements have been made. This is not the time to debate the issue. I know that it is not easy to train people, but it can be done as a crash course in two and a half hours.

Be that as it may, I believe that hon. Members will want to have a debate so that they can ask the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Defence why the troops cannot use the available equipment to protect not only their own lives—many Service men are being admitted to hospital each day suffering from fumes and smoke and with their lungs badly affected—but the lives of others, because nobody appears to have explained how the Service men are to save the life of a child in a back room when the house is filled with smoke. It is a question of the lives of the Service men and the lives of the civilians involved in a fire. This is why the matter is urgent.

1533 This is, as I am sure the whole House realises, a national emergency. I hope that time will be provided so that the House can speak up for these brave people who are keeping the country going at present.