Bus Funding

Debate between Steff Aquarone and Louise Haigh

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

I am very happy to confirm that we are investing in Plymouth, Plymouth’s people and Plymouth’s buses. Buses are an enormous engine of social justice, because, as I said earlier, the most deprived rely on them the most. I am afraid that is why they have been so badly neglected in this place for so long, but that will absolutely turn around under this Labour Government. Buses are my priority and this Labour Government’s priority.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a member of Norfolk county council.

I am pleased that £15 million of the new funding will be heading to Norfolk to support our rural bus services, but the model for running buses in Norfolk is broken. We need a service that works for everyone, not just routes to and from the city and the occasional shopping bus. Will the Secretary of State assure me that this money will not just disappear into county council coffers or route subsidies, but instead help build the proper public transport network that North Norfolk needs?

[Louise Haigh]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Under the current system, money has been thrown hand over fist at operators, which have cherry-picked the most commercially viable routes, leaving local authorities to step in to subsidise the lifeline routes that people rely on. The benefit of areas being able to move to a franchised system, or indeed to set up their own publicly owned bus company, is that they can cross-subsidise properly across routes, and ensure that public money is spent in the best way and that we design routes and networks that really work for local communities.