Ministers signal more cash for firefighters

Ministers will this weekend move to halt the threatened eight-day strike by signalling to firefighters that more cash will be made available to fund a staged wage increase.

The Fire Brigades Union, which is also moving towards a compromise on the issue, would have to agree to reforms of working practices in return for a 16 per cent offer staggered over three years.

Informal contacts between the two sides continue with both claiming public support after the first fire service strikes since the 1970s.

It is now almost certain the FBU will sit down with their employers for renewed talks on Tuesday. The employers will meet to discuss their strategy tomorrow.

Public support for the firefighters declined during the 48-hour stoppage, in which seven people died, prompting nervousness about the eight-day strike due to begin on Friday.

FBU sources said yesterday: "Our feeling is that we have some ideas about how we can progress this. We certainly think there is an opportunity for the employers and the Government to settle the dispute before the strike starts.

"There seems to be a willingness on their part to table a sensible offer."

Despite tough talking by Tony Blair and his deputy, John Prescott, who will meet firefighters tomorrow, government sources privately concede they are ready to negotiate. A senior source said staging a 16 per cent increase over three years "might be one way of approaching a figure of that order", adding that "the issue is affordability and willingness" to modernise.