Firefighters call off strikes - for now

The threat of strikes by the fire brigade lifted last night when union leaders emerged from a day-long meeting to say they wanted to resume talks.

The decision by the executive of the Fire Brigade Union means that two 48-hour strikes scheduled for this week and next week are definitely off. But the FBU warned that an eight-day strike from 6 November could go ahead if talks with employers break down.

Nonetheless, the announcement came as a huge relief to government ministers who were facing the prospect of the worst public sector industrial dispute since Labour came to power.

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, who spent five hours in talks with union leaders last week, said: "I am delighted that the FBU has agreed to sit down with the employers for talks on pay and modernisation. I hope that this can now lead to a final settlement of the dispute."

The FBU leaders were warned that the Government would not fund a pay settlement above the 4 per cent already offered unless it was linked to cost-saving reforms of the fire service.

A review headed by Sir George Bain, which is due to report in December, is expected to recommend that some fire authorities be merged, and some smaller fire stations closed, to concentrate resources where the risk of fire is greatest. He is also likely to recommend joint control centres for all emergency services. The FBU had refused to co operate, claiming the inquiry was not independent .

The decision to call off the strikes was welcomed by leaders of local authorities who employ firefighters. The employers will meet tomorrow, ahead of the resumed talks later in the week.

The decision was unanimous and came after a five-hour meeting of the union's 19-member executive. Andy Gilchrist, general secretary of the FBU, telephoned Mr Prescott personally to tell him the news but made no public comment.

The FBU is calling for a 40 per cent pay rise to bring its members' salaries to £30,000. The pay demand was heavily supported in a ballot of FBU members, but union leaders faced the prospect of losing public support if lives were put at risk. There were fears that cover by the army's ageing Green Goddesses would be inadequate.

Mr Gilchrist reported back to his executive yesterday on talks with Mr Prescott and the local government minister, Nick Raynsford.

The FBU has not received any new offer from the Government but there was a hint of more money if the firefighters agreed to cooperate with the Bain review.

Mr Prescott is likely to have distanced himself from government comments which implied that the strike was politically motivated and compared today's union leaders with the former miners' union president, Arthur Scargill.