I WATCHED a remarkable interview with a police officer this week. He had been on duty in the London Bridge area when terrorists attacked people in bars and restaurants, with knives.

The officer wasn’t being attacked, but he witnessed someone being attacked. He wasn’t armed with a firearm, but drew his baton and in his own words “charged in”. While others, naturally, ran he tried to save lives.

He did, and he ended up in hospital for his efforts.

Then we have the fire in Grenfell Tower where firefighters fought for hours coping with not only one of the most horrendous blazes ever seen but with exhaustion, putting themselves at risk in the hope they can rescue some people from certain death.

Sadly too many people died in both those incidents but those who survived but with injuries, many critical, were then taken to hospital where doctors, nurses and NHS staff responded to yet another extraordinary emergency.

Many stayed on well after their shift and others came in when they were off duty to help.

The sight of the flames destroying the Grenfell Tower and with it the lives of who knows how many people was sickening.

So too was the sight of people lying dead or injured from yet another terrorist attack on our streets.

Both these events happened in London.

Had they happened in Glasgow or any city in Scotland, there is no doubt our emergency services would have responded in exactly the same way.

Then there was another event, this week, which also sickened me.

Given the opportunity to vote to end the pay cap for public sector workers which includes those mentioned above, the UK Conservative government with its supporters, decided they were not worth it.

After every sickening event that the emergency services respond to, politicians praise the bravery and dedication of those who deal with it. No praise is high enough on those days.

But then those words are not backed up by action. Cuts to budgets, cuts to staff, cuts to local authority budgets which also have an impact on the response to these events and in some cases the prevention of them, have been applied year after year.

Theresa May is right, there is no magic money tree. There is nothing magic about it. The money is there, in this wealthy country, it just depends what you think it should be spent on.

Equally there is no magic bravery tree. There is nothing magic about that either. It is real, it exists in each of those who put themselves at risk in the line of duty.

For MPs to vote against lifting the cap, to continue with cuts to public services knowing the damage it does while praising staff is hypocritical and shameful.

In Scotland the Scottish Government has said it will not assume a 1% cap for the next and future years. Good news, however it could have been lifted this year but a commitment for next year was given instead.

So, until next year, our emergency services will have to make do with thanks.