Fire brigade cuts agreed

Cuts in the number of fire engines and crews in London, scaled down amid union protests, have been approved by the Home Secretary.

The Home Office announced that he had made one change to cost-cutting proposals by the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority: rejecting a plan to remove a fire engine from a fire station at Battersea, south-west London. The authority had asked to withdraw one of two engines at 14 of its 113 fire stations, and reduce manpower by 316 from its establishment of 6,374