Lib Dems: England bus fare cap move to £3 is ‘without a doubt a bus tax’
Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP has described the announcement raising the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 in England and extended the scheme for a further 12 months as “without a doubt a bus tax.”
In a statement, Farron said
While this new government has been left to make difficult choices, they cannot allow the burden of fixing the Conservatives’ mess to be on people and small businesses across the country.
The fundamental issue is that neither Labour nor the Conservatives before them seemed to understand is that for rural communities, it doesn’t matter if the cap is £2 or £3 if they don’t have a bus service in the first place.
If the government is serious about growth then it would invest in services which will boost our struggling town centres and high streets.
Jeremy Corbyn has also added his voice to criticism of the announcement, saying:
Scrapping the £2 bus fare cap is a disgraceful decision that will harm the poorest in society, and discourage public transport at a time when it is needed more than ever. Why is the government punishing people for trying to get to work?
Speaking earlier today, prime minister Keir Starmer said that the flat £2 fare cap in England had only been funded by the previous Conservative administration to the end of this year, when it was due to end, and that his government were extending the policy, but at the higher rate.
When the policy was announced, the then Conservative government claimed it would save almost a third of the ticket price for the average journey, and cut emissions and congestion by taking an estimated 2m cars off the roads.
Earlier Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick described the Labour announcement as “clueless”, and shadow transport secretary Helen Whately said “That’s £10 a week extra to get to work under Labour. Clearly bus users don’t count as ‘working people’ either.”
Key events
Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch are making their final pitches to Conservative party members in the leadership election this week.
Jenrick has posted today to say that it was time to “end the drama, end the excuses and just deliver.”
He also rather unexpectedly made a pitch for the nightclubbing vote, by posting a picture of himself in a night club in Ilford, calling for a revitalisation of the late night economy.
Great to be in Faces nightclub in Ilford on Thursday night.
Labour have acted as the fun police in London, suffocating bars and clubs with red tape.
With the right leadership, London’s nightlife can thrive like our other major cities. pic.twitter.com/NnWQH7QBeC
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) October 28, 2024
For her part, Badenoch appeared on BBC Radio 2 today. She denied that the position she was vying for was “a caretaker leader job”. She told listeners it was possible for the Conservatives to get back into power after one term of Labour in government, but that this leadership election was “existential” for the Tories.
Badenoch said:
What I tell everyone is that we have one chance to get this right. This is existential. I actually feel that if we’re not careful, this could be the end of the Conservative Party.
There is a Reform Party on the right that says it’s the real conservative party. We need to be more confident, more authentic in our values.
But we also need to ensure that we understand what we got wrong and explain to the public, apologise and create a better offer.
So there’s everything to play for. It can be done in one term, but it’s certainly something that will be the toughest thing we’ve ever had to do.
Angela Rayner has robustly defended the government’s plan for mandatory housing targets in the Commons today.
Asked by David Simmonds, Conservative shadow minister for housing, how confident the government was of meeting its targets given, he said, “the uncertainty created by the government’s new top down targets, which will delay the implementation of local plans and therefore planning decisions”, Rayner said:
Britain is facing the sharpest housing crisis ever because of the failure of those benches opposite. We will make sure through our mandatory housing targets and announcements that have been made, and will be made at the budget, to ensure that we get the houses that Britain needs.
The co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Carla Denyer, has described the change in the bus fare cap in England from £2 to £3 as “the wrong approach”.
She posted to social media to say:
The Labour government has confirmed a 50% rise in bus fares – a blow for everyone who relies on buses in the cost of living crisis. This is the wrong approach – government should be supporting our economy and environment by making it easier to get around without a car.
Blackburn’s independent MP, Adnan Hussain, has also criticised Labour’s plans for the bus fare cap in England.
He posted to social media to say:
Disappointing Labour plans to increase bus fares by 50%, especially for towns like Blackburn, in the north-west, where many rely on bus services to get to and from work. Pensioners’ heating allowance, two-child cap, and now bus fares. So much for helping the most vulnerable.
Hussain won the seat in July from Labour’s Kate Hollern.
The government has published a written ministerial statement from deputy prime minister Angela Rayner on social and affordable housing.
In it she says Wednesday’s budget will “set out how the government will deliver more affordable housing and ensure social housing is available for those who need it most.”
Rayner says:
This will include an immediate one year cash injection of £500m to top up the existing Affordable Homes Programme which will deliver up to 5,000 new social and affordable homes, bringing total investment in housing supply in 2025/2026 to over £5bn.
The government will also consult on a new 5-year social housing rent settlement, which caps the rents social housing providers can charge their tenants, to provide the sector with the certainty it needs to invest in new social housing. The intention would be for this to increase with CPI inflation figures and an additional 1%.
You can read the statement in full here.
The House of Commons is about to start sitting for the week, and after the traditional prayers there will be housing questions.
Lib Dems: England bus fare cap move to £3 is ‘without a doubt a bus tax’
Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP has described the announcement raising the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 in England and extended the scheme for a further 12 months as “without a doubt a bus tax.”
In a statement, Farron said
While this new government has been left to make difficult choices, they cannot allow the burden of fixing the Conservatives’ mess to be on people and small businesses across the country.
The fundamental issue is that neither Labour nor the Conservatives before them seemed to understand is that for rural communities, it doesn’t matter if the cap is £2 or £3 if they don’t have a bus service in the first place.
If the government is serious about growth then it would invest in services which will boost our struggling town centres and high streets.
Jeremy Corbyn has also added his voice to criticism of the announcement, saying:
Scrapping the £2 bus fare cap is a disgraceful decision that will harm the poorest in society, and discourage public transport at a time when it is needed more than ever. Why is the government punishing people for trying to get to work?
Speaking earlier today, prime minister Keir Starmer said that the flat £2 fare cap in England had only been funded by the previous Conservative administration to the end of this year, when it was due to end, and that his government were extending the policy, but at the higher rate.
When the policy was announced, the then Conservative government claimed it would save almost a third of the ticket price for the average journey, and cut emissions and congestion by taking an estimated 2m cars off the roads.
Earlier Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick described the Labour announcement as “clueless”, and shadow transport secretary Helen Whately said “That’s £10 a week extra to get to work under Labour. Clearly bus users don’t count as ‘working people’ either.”
Rachel Keenan
Russell Findlay, the new Scottish Conservative leader, has proposed cutting free prescriptions, merging local authorities and abolishing quangos to deliver cuts in Scottish income tax rates.
In his first major policy speech since winning the leadership last month, Findlay said “nothing is off the table” in a bid to cut income tax rates, which are devolved in Scotland but higher than in the rest of the UK. He would start by abolishing the 21p tax rate.
He told Tory activists and MSPs in Edinburgh:
Tens of millions of pounds are waiting to be saved if only politicians in Edinburgh were more concerned about ensuring best value for taxpayers.
This should be our mission over the years ahead: rebuild the broken bond of trust between politicians and the public by only promising what’s deliverable. Rebuild trust by being ruthlessly efficient custodians of taxpayers’ money.
He said he would reduce Scotland’s 131 quangos and agencies, which the Tories claim cost £19bn a year. He pledged to merge the largest environmental agencies, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and NatureScot, and to scrap the Scottish Land Commission, which oversees land reform policy.
He also proposed scrapping baby boxes, which include free gifts of clothing, books and thermometers given to all new mothers.
“Nothing really is off the table. Everything is up for discussion. Baby boxes might seem in the grand scheme of things like not a lot of money, but £50m could do a lot of good in our public services, and I think we should look at that.”
After appearing to suggest abolishing free tuition was under consideration, he later appeared to backtrack. He said the key issue was closing down university courses of little material value – a theme echoed by candidates in the contest to be the next UK Conservative leader.
Findlay refused to be specific on how many of Scotland’s 32 local councils or its NHS boards could be scrapped or merged; the Scottish Labour party has proposed merging Scotland’s 14 territorial NHS boards into three.
“I think we need to rationalise where we can and look at everything with a fresh eye. [At] this stage, I’m going to consult with colleagues and bring forward our proper proposals,” he told one reporter.
Findlay was elected Scottish Tory leader after his predecessor Douglas Ross resigned following a crisis over his treatment of a fellow Tory election candidate, David Duguid, his expenses claims, and an apparent breach of his promise not to stand again for Westminster.
Kiran Stacey
Political correspondent Kiran Stacey has this report on today’s announcements by Keir Starmer:
The bus fare cap in England will rise from £2 to £3 at the end of this year, Keir Starmer has said, as Rachel Reeves prepares to raid transport funding in this week’s budget.
The prime minister told an audience in Birmingham that the money to fund the £2 cap would run out at the end of 2024 and that the Labour government would then not be able to keep it at the same level after that.
The decision by the prime minister and chancellor comes despite heavy lobbying by Labour’s elected mayors to keep the cap in place, as revealed last week by the Guardian. Starmer insisted on Monday that working people would welcome such decisions as a necessary part of fixing the public finances after 14 years of Conservative government.
“The Tories only funded [the £2 fare cap] until the end of 2024, and therefore that is the end of the funding in relation to the £2 bus fare,” Starmer said.
“I do know that this matters, particularly in rural buses, and that’s why I’m able to say to you this morning that in the budget, we will announce there’ll be a £3 cap on bus fares until the end of 2025, because I know how important it is. So that’ll be there in the budget on Wednesday.”
The prime minister was giving a pre-budget speech in Birmingham to set expectations ahead of what ministers warn will be a painful budget for many people, including planned rises to national insurance, capital gains tax and inheritance tax.
Read more here: England’s bus fare cap will rise from £2 to £3 in 2025, says Starmer
Another part of the dripping out of budget announcements ahead of Wednesday has been the prime minister this morning stating that local services to “get Britain working” will get a £240m funding boost.
It is part of the Labour party’s stated national mission to pull the employment rate up to 80%.
In quotes issued from the Chancellor about the funding, Rachel Reeves said “Due to years of economic neglect, the benefits bill is ballooning.”
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is quoted as saying that “Through our Get Britain Working plan, we will ensure every young person is supported to find earnings or learning, while our new jobs and careers service will transform opportunity for all.”
Economic inactivity has risen by nearly one million people since before the pandemic in 2020, with PA Media reporting that 85% of this is due to those who are long-term sick.
If you didn’t see it, at the weekend our economics correspondent Richard Partington had a reported out piece looking at this issue in Barnsley, where for the first time since the deindustrialisation years, there are more vacancies than people looking for work.
I imagine the number of people who could put together a specific list of top five most impactful UK budgets from the last five decades is quite small, but our economics editor Larry Elliott is among them. Readers of a certain age – including me – are sure to get a certain frisson from seeing pictures of Geoffrey Howe, Nigel Lawson, Norman Lamont and Kenneth Clarke among others. Kwasi Kwarteng also, inevitably, puts in an appearance.
The adult prison population in England and Wales has dropped 3% after reaching record levels.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show there were 85,867 people in prison on Monday, which was 1,598 fewer than recorded at the beginning of last week.
PA Media reports the drop means there is capacity for 3,141 more people in the system, and that the figure for inmates is the lowest since 30 June in 2023.
Earlier, speaking in Birmingham, prime minister Keir Starmer criticised the record of the previous government, saying “Just look at the state of our prisons. Where’s the Tory apology for that? Watching the prison population rise while they were too weak either to reform sentencing or build new prison places.”
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