17 August 2026

As wildfires rage across the UK, Luke Myer MP has pledged to keep fighting for a fairer funding deal for Cleveland Fire Brigade. He has met with firefighters and senior fire service leaders in recent days to discuss growing pressure on frontline services.

Last week, Luke met Cleveland FBU secretary James Sudron at Loftus Fire Station to hear directly about the impact of years of Tory cuts, which saw the service shrink by 33% from 2010 onwards – as well as the broken funding formula and the latest proposals being considered by Cleveland Fire Authority.

He then met Interim Chief Fire Officer Simon Weastell and Fire Authority Chair Cllr David Coupe today to discuss the service’s finances, staffing pressures and operational risks.

Cleveland Fire Brigade continues to face some of the highest demand in the country. Alongside high deprivation, linked to higher arson rates, the service also has to protect a major concentration of industrial sites, including 27 top-tier COMAH sites.

Luke has raised the national fire funding formula in Parliament and said it does not properly reflect the pressures Cleveland faces, including high deprivation, industrial risk and the long distances firefighters need to cover in rural East Cleveland. The Labour Government has acknowledged that the “current fire funding formula was designed over a decade ago” and it will undergo a “comprehensive review”.

Following the extreme wildfires seen across Britain this summer, the Government has also announced emergency support for fire and rescue services facing the greatest pressure. Luke has committed to fight for a fair deal for Cleveland.

Luke Myer MP said:

“Our firefighters do an incredible job keeping people safe, and I am proud to stand with them.

“Cleveland has lost around a third of its whole-time firefighters since 2010, yet our crews are still dealing with some of the highest demand in the country and protecting some of Britain’s most important industrial sites.

“I have been raising this in Parliament because I do not think the current funding formula gives Cleveland a fair deal. I will keep working with our firefighters, the FBU and the Fire Authority to push for the funding Cleveland needs and to protect frontline services across Middlesbrough and East Cleveland.”

Cleveland Fire Brigades Union secretary, James Sudron, said:

“Every cut has consequences. We are the ones who see those consequences first-hand. We see it on the fire ground, we see it in response times, and in the growing risks to firefighters and the public we serve. This cannot go on.”