Labour candidate lays blame for cuts at Tories' door
Angie Bray would like to paint a picture that sees Boris Johnson get off scot free for his shocking fare hikes, but this is to deny the obvious truth that stares most of the borough’s residents in the face.
Johnson’s decision to hike fares and cut services in Ealing are his and his alone. Not only is he satisfied with cutting back on essential transport services from Greenford Station, local bus services and ignore the needs for key local interchanges, we are losing out in order that he could fulfil three unnecessary policies.
This Tory Mayor has shown that his priority is not Ealing’s public transport users, but rather the cuts in Ealing services are funding the scrapping of the Western Extension to the Congestion Charge (£70m), abandoning a charge for the most polluting cars (£50m) and replacing high-capacity bendy buses with lower capacity buses (over £30m). All Boris’ policies, none forced on him. The truth is he’s been defending banker’s ludicrous bonuses and described his £250,000-a-year salary for a weekly newspaper column as chicken-feed – he is seriously out of touch with Londoners, especially at this time.
The truth is that once upon a time Bray would have stood up to a Mayor who introduced the biggest fare hikes in London’s history, now she makes up excuses showing the crony she has become. If she is happy to be an apparatchik of your party and not the voice of the residents whose support she wishes to gain, at least people know now what they’ve got on offer. In Bray they would have politician who puts party first, in me one who stands up for what’s right for my residents.
With regards to the Freedom Pass debate on the Forum, we did actually discuss this at last full council:
The only threat there is to the Freedom Pass is from Tories who see getting rid of it as a money saving measure, such as Ealing Tory Cllr Phil Taylor, who sees it as a waste of time.
As many Freedom Pass users will know the Labour government recently introduced similar passes across the country and later set up a nation-wide system where such passes could be used from Land's End to John O'Groats rather than restricting older citizens to using their passes only on local buses. The government provided additional funding on estimates that users from outside London would use London's public transport network and so compensating councils for this additional expense. Since its introduction, it has been clear that the inter-regional use patterns are not as first estimated and so funds have been reallocated, based on these usage statistics.
*Please note that these changes have not, and under a Labour Government never will mean an end to Londoner's Freedom Pass.* The core funding to allow every Ealing resident who needs a Freedom Pass is still there. In fact, Tory-led London Councils have said that these changes will have no impact on the provision of Freedom Passes across the capital, stating there was sufficient funding to meet demand.
One final thing to say is that anyone looking to renew their Freedom Pass under the new 5-year system should visit http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/freedompass/default.htm or their local post office to pick up a new application form. There is a new application process which means you will need passport style photos - it's all in order to reduce the high instance of fraud that there is at the moment with such passes, but they will last for the next five years, rather than the usual two.
If you're entitled to your Freedom Pass, make sure you don't lose out!
As your MP I will fight with every ounce of my body to stop nasty Tories like Phil Taylor from downgrading or scrapping this small thank you to people who given so much to our country!
Bassam Mahfouz
January 7th, 2010