Fire strike may be delayed to aid talks

Hopes that the first eight-day firefighters' strike will be called off rose last night when union officials and government ministers indicated compromise was possible on a pay deal.

Fire Brigades Union sources said that the union was prepared to delay the stoppage if progress was made in talks starting today, even if there was no final settlement.

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, said he was "prepared to make an exceptional case" for the firefighters, while Peter Hain, the Welsh Secretary, said that "space and funding will be created to get a just pay deal" if the FBU accepted modernisation.

Mr Prescott's tone yesterday was markedly conciliatory, urging firefighters to "take the gun away from my head" by postponing the strike due to start on Friday.

Firemen in the Deputy Prime Minister's Hull constituency claimed that Mr Prescott had told them over the weekend that he had told Tony Blair "to keep his nose out" of the dispute.

Mr Prescott and the fire authority employers will meet Andy Gilchrist, the union's general secretary, today, in an attempt to halt strike.

Mr Prescott said on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost that the Government was determined to stick to its spending limits and could not allow knock-on rises in wages. But he suggested that there was room for compromise beyond Sir George Bain's review of the fire service, particularly on "the timetable" of any pay rises. Government sources indicated that any money on top of the 11 per cent over two years recommended by the Bain inquiry was likely to be tied to changes in working practices, and likely to arrive in the third year of any deal.

Mr Prescott said: "We're talking about decent people who want a fair deal under fair circumstances, and I've got to say it's got to be fair for all."

An FBU source told The Independent that the union was considering delaying the strike. "We are prepared to talk about real modernisation if they are prepared to talk about real money on the table," he said.

Mr Hain backed up the conciliatory approach. He said on Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "Firefighters deserve justice, associated with reforms of conditions of service. My objective and the Government's objective is not to beat the firefighters into submission."

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, will seek to sound a more hardline note today by warning that he will not allow high public-sector wage rises to undermine economic stability. Mr Brown's message follows a stark prediction from Sir Edward George, the Governor of the Bank of England, yesterday that wage inflation would lead to higher unemployment.

The tougher stance backs up Downing Street's claim that the FBU leadership is "Scargillite" and a warning that it is prepared to seize red fire engines for use by troops.

Sir Edward said that wage inflation would affect the whole economy. "There has to be a real risk that other elements in the public sector would say 'me too' and that would be very difficult to stop."

* Despite government denials, a confidential document shows that fire authorities were prepared to offer employees 16.1 per cent over two years. The 24-page paper is dated 21 June. The rise was linked to concessions over productivity. Minist-ers vetoed the offer by refusing to fund it.