Prescott in clash with fire union

The Public Accounts Committee said the so-called FiReControl plan, launched by the previous Labour government, was one of the worst cases of project failure it had seen for years, was “flawed from the outset” and cost taxpayers almost half a billion pounds.

Lord Prescott, who was in charge of the department running the project when in office, said yesterday that while he took responsibility for the policy, civil servants kept ministers in the dark.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, he said he had tried to take forward the project despite the “hostility” of the Fire Brigades Union.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack countered: “Only a Minister who doesn’t know what’s going on blames others. Prescott has no excuse. He was told by the FBU, among others. He was clearly not doing his job properly.

“Instead of accepting his own central role in authoring and driving this disastrous project, he prefers to blame those who work in the service and pass the buck.”