Policy responses to crisis: the case of the UK firefighters’ dispute

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the UK government's policy responses to the 2002–04 firefighters' dispute, a prolonged crisis which necessitated the activation of the central government's contingency planning procedures for a public safety emergency. The framework for analysis draws on a set of key criteria against which governmental and organisational policy responses to crises can be categorised: agenda management, centralisation of policy responses, decentralisation of policy responses, bureaucratic politics and strategic evasion. The article shows that the sum total of all these patterns is a strong Westminster-centric response, rather than one that is more differentiated or 'hollowed out'.