The leader of the employers' side in the firefighters' pay row has provoke outrage by calling the fire service institutionally racist.

Head of the Local Government Association (LGA) Sir Jeremy Beecham blamed union officials for the fire services' "white, male-dominated culture".

His comments, made at a press briefing on Tyneside, provoked an angry reaction from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), which branded them "disgusting and outrageous."

Sir Jeremy, a former Newcastle City Council leader, said 99% of firefighters were white, claiming that the appointments system within the service put barriers in the way of black recruits.

It is disgusting tactics for Sir Jeremy Beecham to be going in this direction

John McGee, FBU

Sir Jeremy had attacked the FBU's refusal to link its pay claim to modernisation of the fire service, citing racism as one of the reasons why reform was needed.

And asked whether the fire service was institutionally racist, he replied: "You could argue that it is, yes."

Sir Jeremy said: "There is a particular culture in the fire service which is resistant to change, and this is one of the examples of it." 'Absolute outrage'

He said the system of appointing senior officers from within the service presented an obstacle to ethnic minorities.

National officer of the FBU John McGee said: "For Sir Jeremy Beecham to link racism to our pay claim is an absolute outrage.

"It is disgusting tactics for Sir Jeremy Beecham to be going in this direction.

'Proud record'

"He is simply using this argument because he has no others.

"Our members have a very proud record when it comes to dealing with racism."

Three years ago, an inquiry carried out by Her Majesty's Fire Inspectorate on behalf of the Home Office found that the fire service was institutionally racist.

But while the LGA was held partly responsible for the situation, the report specifically exempted the FBU from any criticism.

All white

The report stated: "The FBU has been particularly active in pursuing equality issues in recent years."

Of its 1,007 uniformed staff, Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade has seven from an ethnic minority background.

Chief fire officer Richard Bull said: "This is against a backdrop five years ago of 1,007 all-white males and we have been working hard to change that."

The row could hamper efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the dispute before the first planned firefighters' walkout on 29 October.