Falmouth and Camborne MP Julia Goldsworthy visited firefighters based at Camborne Fire station on to discuss the impact that proposed reductions to night time cover would have on the front line services.

Cornwall county council is considering withdrawing night cover from Camborne and Falmouth fire stations. This would see the replacement of full-time shift cover with a retained service after 6pm.

The proposals are now subject to a twelve-week public consultation period.

But Ms Goldsworthy has been criticised for not openly supporting the fire creews and opposing the cuts. Some critics feel she is siding with the Liberal-Democrat led county council and will not openly come out in a difiant mood.

The MP is, however, urging her constituents to "engage with the process" and have their say to highlight the importance of the services that the stations currently offer.

"The Fire Service in Cornwall is already one of the lowest funded in the country, but the Government are still asking for savings. Having made all the efficiencies they can, any further savings can now only come from changes to front line services - which is clearly unacceptable," she said.

"The Camborne-Redruth area is the most densely populated part of Cornwall and Falmouth and firecrews have responsibilities which extend beyond the towns to the docks and at sea. Switching to a retained service in the evenings would clearly have an impact on response times."

She will be meeting with the Chief Fire Officer and says she will be "contributing formally to the consultation process," to highlight the needs of the communities who will be directly affected by these changes but has not come out opposing the changes outright.