Blair ignores firefighter jeers

Tony Blair toured a territorial army centre in Darlington

Striking firefighters heckled Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday as he visited a territorial army centre in Darlington, County Durham.

As Mr Blair repeated his warning that firefighters will not achieve anything through strike action, angry firefighters shouted slogans from behind the metal railings of an adjoining used car garage.

He stood impassively and watched a mock car crash which involved Army and RAF crews using a Green Goddess, a reserve red fire engine and a rescue vehicle with breathing gear.

The strikers, standing around 100 yards away shouted: "Come and talk to us Tony Blair, come on Blair you can't hide forever."

Mr Blair met troops in Darlington

After the 15 minute rescue demonstration Mr Blair met members of the 40th regiment Royal Artillery and thanked them for their efforts.

Firefighters shouted: "Don't be shy Mr Blair, you may as well talk to us, 'cos Prescott doesn't know what he's talking about."

He spent about 15 minutes having a cup of tea with Army, RAF and the police staff who are stationed at the centre during the strike.

On leaving the centre Mr Blair was adamant the current strike action would not achieve anything.

'Working practices'

He said: "Under the existing pay formula which has been in place for 25 years, there's 4% on the table.

"That's as much as anyone is getting in other parts of the public sector.

"If they want more than that, it's got to be paid for by a change in working practices and people have to get round the table and negotiate on that basis.

"We have got to look at the broader interests of the country.

"If they want to change the existing pay formula, then fine, but not by a series of strikes that cannot be justified.

"The armed forces have coped brilliantly and we have learned about shift work and part-time and full-time people responding to incidents together and these are the basic changes that can be achieved.

"We have learned a lot from how the armed forces have coped while the firefighters have been on strike."