Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

As my hon. Friend says, three hours it is then. I am chair of the Fire Brigades Union parliamentary group. In that capacity, I have had discussions with the Fire Brigades Union, which wholeheartedly supports the Bill. Before coming to the House, I was the solicitor for the Fire Brigades Union for almost 20 years. In that capacity, I saw many cases of firefighters who were injured as a result of arson or assault. Some injuries were career threatening. Some firefighters even had to retire as a result of what happened to them. For that reason, I strongly welcome the additional protections afforded by the Bill and, in particular, the Government’s assurances as to how such offences should be treated in future. The Fire Brigades Union recently published research showing that attacks on UK fire crews were running at some 40 a week and that the problem was getting worse. The research found that under-reporting meant that the figure could be as high as 120 attacks a week. In some parts of the country, fire crews are served a daily diet of bricks, bottles and missiles as they attempt to fight fires. In other incidents, ambushes have been set for firefighters. The attacks include scaffolding poles being thrown through the windscreens of fire engines. That not only impedes, puts at risk and injures the firefighters but puts the fire engine out of action not only for that fire call but potentially for many other fire incidents that it would otherwise have attended. Crews have been attacked with concrete blocks, bricks and bottles. They have been shot at and spat at. There have been direct physical assaults them. Equipment has been tampered with, stolen or even urinated on. The number and ferocity of the attacks seem to be getting worse. It can never be part of anyone’s job to get a brick or bottle in the head as they are simply doing their duty. Many attacks take place in deprived areas with poor youth facilities and poor housing, where bored young people turn to drugs and alcohol. In some areas there seems to be culture of recreational violence with fire crews as the targets, often when dealing with fires that those vandals have set themselves to bring the firefighters into the trap that they have created.