I attended the marathon 5 hour Fire Authority meeting last Friday at which the Fire Authority was to make a decision on the proposed cuts to the service. Needless to say, our local Labour MP who claims to be so interested in this issue never bothered to turn up!

Anyway, a decision of sorts was taken and that decision was that there should be a moritorium on the proposed closures for the next three months so that the Fire Service officers could go away and consider other options and, importantly, begin a dialogue with the Fire Brigades Union to find a more acceptable way forward.

That proposal came from one of our own Councillors, John Briggs, who highlighted the fact that the Fire Brigade had not provided a range of options for members and had failed to take into account such important issues as future development, the regional spacial strategy and the flood cathcment plans which are currently being drawn up.

Contrary to the impression given by my opponent in his increasingly bizarre ramblings - as commented upon by a number of residents to me - that proposal was agreed by Councillors of ALL parties.

That is rather embarrassing to Gordon Brown's Labour MP for Brigg and Goole who has been running around trying to give the impression that there is some sort of political split on this issue. That is not helpful and certainly proves that his interest in this matter is more about political points, than it is genuine concern for local residents.