Bus passes show the way forward
In a letter to the Surrey Advertiser recently, Eric Martin suggested that senior citizens should pay for their bus passes and only get free travel three days a week. What a regressive, short-sighted step that would be.
The Labour government introduced free bus passes to encourage more use of public transport by senior citizens irrespective of wealth and income.
What a great success it has been. There is an increase in the use of buses which has ensured that services remain viable for all the community.
The Labour government recently extended the scheme from a local one to a national one which means that senior citizens can travel from Lands End to John O' Groats for free, if they so desire.
Mr.Martin also lists other benefits that the Labour government provided for its senior citizens - free prescriptions, the winter fuel allowance, extreme weather payments and the Christmas bonus - all well deserved after paying income tax for 45 years.
He is concerned that families "don't get any of this". I can assure him that we in the Labour Party are not resting on our laurels.
One of our policies is to introduce free bus travel for under 18s. This will not only help families that he is concerned about, it will also be good for the environment, encouraging people to use public transport more often.
Michael Hassell
Supporting families and children
Labour has done a lot for hard-pressed families. Look at some of ours achievements over the last 11 years.
- 1
million new child care places created along with 1139 new neighbourhood
nurseries, free part-time nursery places for every 3 and 4-year-old, and
tax-free Childcare Vouchers for working parents.
- 107
Early Excellence Centres created.
- Cut
by 2.1 million the number of children living in poverty - halved in 8 years.
- Financial support for children through tax credits, Child Benefit and other benefits have increased by 72% (£10.4 billion) in real terms since 1997. Six million families including ten million children benefit.
You know that the Tory - Lib Dem coalition will never help families like this. Many people take it for granted that this support will always be there - but with massive cuts in public services promised by the Tories (with Lib Dem support) it may soon be cut.
