A firefighter who served in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire has been elected as the national leader of the Fire Brigades Union.
Steve Wright began as a firefighter in Buckinghamshire at the age of 18 in 2001 and transferred to Oxfordshire in 2006.
Most recently he was the union’s president since 2023 and executive committee member for the southern region based in Reading, covering
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. He has now been elected as its general secretary.
Mr Wright said: “I am deeply honoured to have been elected as general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, and I want to thank all FBU members who participated in this election.”
He said under his leadership the FBU would ‘campaign for a fit-for-purpose fire and rescue service that protects the public and its employees, with genuine investment and national standards’.
Mr Wright won the election against the incumbent Mack Wrack, who served as FBU general secretary since 2005.
Mr Wrack said he was ‘proud to have led the Fire Brigades Union for over two decades’ and highlighted the union’s campaigning over pay and pensions during that period.
He said: “I leave the FBU with my head held high. Since the age of 16 I have been an active anti -racist, anti-fascist. I became a socialist as a teenager and I have been a trade unionist all my working life. My views and values have not changed and I will continue that fight.”