Former Cabinet minister Nick Brown leads debate in Commons.
 
Bus services are being cut and student and child fares rising to pay for the Government’s pledge to give pensioners free bus travel, a commons debate will hear today (Monday).
 
Nick Brown, the former cabinet minister, will raise the issue of cuts made in Tyne and Wear to pay for free travel after April 1 in an Adjournment Debate.
 
Tyne and Wear is among 34 local councils and local government organisations across the country who say they have not received adequate funds from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to pay for the measure.
 
These include Brighton, Croydon, Derby, Guildford, Leeds, South Norfolk, Torbay and Trafford.

In Tyne and Wear between 20 and 30 subsidised bus routes are to be cut, child fares will rise from 30p to 40p and student passes double in price.

Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, has a £5.4m back hole in its budget because the money it has received from Government to pay for free travel for pensioners does not match the number of journeys expected to be made. Other councils nationwide are facing similar problems.
 
Councillor David Wood, chairman of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority: “It is absurd that in April pensioners will be getting free travel just as local bus services they rely on are being withdrawn to pay for it. This cannot be what the Government intended.
 
“For pensioners free travel is a good thing. However, we know many pensioners will be unhappy that while they are getting free travel, others will suffer increased fares and reduced services.”
 
Nexus, local authority leaders, local MPs, pensioners and student groups are continuing to campaign for sufficient funds for Tyne and Wear in the year ahead and beyond.
 
The adjournment debate is scheduled for 10pm in the House of Commons.

Date 13 March 2006
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