Outside London £9bn is needed to support bus services, Blundering Boris offers £1.4bn and praises leveling up. Local Councillors express concern.

 

The accusation of the Government double counting grant cash to support bus travel from regional Mayor's and Council leaders across England has brought out how little the current insular Conservative Government and its treasury understands the needs of its population and how many families are now reliant on bus services as transport deprivation widens.

Last year, in a hail of publicity, the Prime Minister published a report on the way forward for the bus transport arm of public transport entitled 'Bus Back Better'. Within it he describes how his faltering and dithering levelling up agenda would run out of the dark and be bathed with glorious sunshine, returning bus services to the level enjoyed prior to 2010 and his former leaders (David Cameron's) push to get the nations workers and pensioners to pay for a world collapse in banking confidence through a programme of intense austerity.

The media praise for 'Austerity' was such a resounding success that the nation has re-elected Conservative Government's on 3 occasions since with the biggest losers being the LibDems who  propped up the Conservatives 'Austerity 1' campaign and were deserted by the public for their huge failure to deliver on their promises.

The current Conservatives are now as always completely reliant on austerity as a way forward as the pandemic losses to business investors and stockbrokers has to be paid back by a nation beginning to see this Government's levelling up agenda for what it is, a replacement for a poorly veiled new-austerity programme. The poverty it is causing those who have already paid back bankers for the last 12 years is beginning to become real, bus cuts being the biggest tangible example that's hitting home following another Jimmy Saville 'fix it' campaign from the nation's Prime Minister.

Local Labour Councillors in Northumberland are extremely concerned regarding cuts to bus services with Lynemouths Liz Dunn and Blyth's Eileen Cartie worried for families they represent.

Councillor Eileen Cartie said: "with fuel sticking at around £7 per gallon and the Government still raking in massive profits from fuel tax even in areas like Blyth where very few services have received subsidies in recent years, bus companies are feeling the pinch and I can't understand why the Leader of Government tells us one thing about investments into regional bus transport and his treasury is allowed to burn his promises in front of his eyes. Families are reliant on buses in this area yet without help from the Government they will become too expensive to use and that will only lead to one end, services being cut."

"In Blyth, bus companies will shortly be invited to provide transport around the town to link up with the reopening rail line as part of an integrated transport system. They will certainly need help to cover off the level of investment needed and with the Treasury fiddling with the levelling up plans where will that investment come from?".

Councillor Liz Dunn from Lynemouth said: "Representing a rural ward the concerns of the residents locally are centred around the potential loss of bus services. Lynemouth ward is home to the second highest number of families in transport deprivation in the County and the reliance on buses is immeasurable in terms of people being socially excluded from wider society in all age groups but youths and the elderly need access to bus services most of all as our villages can't supply all their needs." 

"With poverty and deprivation growing at such a rapid rate and Councils still having to slash budgets to appease a Government hell bent on increasing profits for investors and banks, families in the villages I represent will be financially excluded from social interaction with their neighbours if fare costs don't receive some support this year and I wholeheartedly support our North of Tyne combined authority Mayor, Jamie Driscol in his endeavours to bring these dreadful cuts into the open for all to see."

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bus-back-better

Age UK: Government has 'ripped the heart out of social and economic reform' and open attacks on pensioners and families by Conservatives. Local Councillors agree.

 

The recent changes to the care cap within the Social Care Bill, shows how influenced the Conservatives in power at Westminster are by the 20% of wealthy families who can afford to bear the costs of the £86,000 care cap set by the Government whilst ignoring the remaining 80% who can't.

In a move that observers believe has been made to support the estate growth of property rental magnates and contributors to the Conservative party, waiting in the wings to scoop up properties cheaply being forced onto the open market to cover the cap charges, destroying the plans of families for decades.

Recent research carried out by charity Age UK has found that fewer than one in five  pensioners will see any benefit from the Government's £86,000 cap on social care bills, with those with the most assets set to benefit the most. 

Charity director Caroline Abrahams said a proposed change to the cap "will take it beyond the reach of older people with low or modes amounts of income and wealth", while leaving "the situation of the better off more or less intact". 

The Government has proposed a change to the cap that will exclude local authority payments from the cap calculation, which Age UK says will disproportionately impact poorer pensioners. "l'm struggling to remember the last time a government of any complexion trumpeted a social and economic reform and then ripped the heart out of it less than two months later", Ms Abrahams added.

Local Councillors from two of Northumberland County Council's most deprived wards suffering from absentee private landlords high rent regimes in Croft and Cowpen, Blyth, Northumberland, Kath Nisbet and Margaret Richardson completely agree with the sentiments reported from Age UK.

Councillor Nisbet said "I represent Croft ward which has some of the lowest property values in the UK which has seen a huge expansion in  the growth of homes remotely managed by absentee landlords and this opportunity from the Conservatives to grow their estates whilst local families lose their inheritance opportunities is a disgraceful act from a Government only interested in their own class"

Councillor Richardson who represents Cowpen ward, the most deprived ward in the huge County of Northumberland told us "this announcement of a care cap set at £86,000 and care support from Council's being discounted from the count will suck the lifeblood from families who have struggled since the late 1980's."

 "It takes two wages coming in to pay the bills for families in Cowpen but if the care cap is set so high it places families in an unenviable position in having to choose, either to drop to one worker and struggle to pay the families way in life whilst the other becomes a carer or for many families, have to sell the roof over their heads as the wider sharing of a family home is quite common it just shows how heartless Conservatives have become".

Local Labour Councillor seriously concerned about projected increase in Deprivation and Destitution

 

Councillor Liz Simpson, deputy leader of the opposition on Northumberland County Council has expressed serious concerns regarding a report from The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) think tank.

The think tank  has warned the Government and local Government that the combination of inflation, which is set to reach 7% in the spring, and the upcoming rise in National Insurance Contributions, could lead to a 30% increasein destitution, with particularly severe effects on some parts of the country. 

Councillor Simpson who represents the fabulous and historic seaside town of Newbiggin by the Sea which is home to the largest number of children and young adults living in poverty and deprivation in the whole massive County of Northumberland said "with the bony arm of poverty and deprivation already reaching over 30% of children living in Newbiggin without this dismal prediction from NIESR and parents now totally reliant on the ever reducing services industry as residents cut back and spend on needy items and not services. I'm really concerned that another 30% increase in avoidable deprivation will lead many families towards destitution."

 "Northumberland County Council has ignored the underlying problems facing Newbiggin families for the last five years and their current budget is geared towards headline spend and not research and development into how the County can pull out of this gloom and increase the lot in areas of deprivation." 

NIESR has called for the National Insurance increase to be delayed, and for the creation of a winter grant scheme, administered by local authorities and funded by £3bn in Government funding, to help poorer households pay for food and bills.

 "I fully agree with the advice from the NIESR and urge Government to halt the rise in national insurance and the creation of a special grant scheme for Council's to help families get back onto an even keel and reduce the need for food banks and increase the food on families tables, which would hopefully keep local shops open. I'm also worried that backing from the County Council to support this
idea may not be glamorous enough for the current administration to grasp."