It was heartening to read the Rev R Michael Frost’s letter expressing thanks to local firefighters (Argus letters) for their courage and commitment to our city.

I remain hugely concerned about the impact of the cuts to our fire service which mean we will lose a fire engine and 24 firefighters.

I worked in the fire brigade for 12 years so I know how hard firefighters work and the tough training they undergo.

In a fire there is not much time and if you are in a car accident or your home or business is flooded you want help to arrive quickly.

Whatever the weather, whatever the time of day or night we all rely on our firefighters to be there within minutes to help us out.

Fewer resources mean that it will take longer for fire engines to reach an incident, increasing the risk to public safety and putting our firefighters in danger. This is unacceptable.

We, the taxpayers, fund our public services. This is our money. We should have a say and overwhelmingly people have told me that they want to keep all five fire engines and all our firefighters in Brighton and Hove.

In June we presented petitions with over 10,000 signatures. But our views were ignored by the Tory, Lib Dem and UKIP councillors on the Fire Authority who voted for these cuts to go through.

I urge people to write to Fire Authority councillors and tell them to put the safety of people and our firefighters first.

Nancy Platts Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven