Labour’s leader on South Gloucestershire Council has slammed the Tories for ‘breath-taking hypocrisy’ for supporting a bus cut whilst benefitting from fully-subsidised services in their own area.

At the Council meeting last night the Conservative councillor for Almondsbury attacked Labour in response to the party’s recent campaign for the revival of the number 10 bus, which was withdrawn by Wessex last month and not picked up by another company. The Tory attacked Labour saying that the amount of subsidy required to entice operators to take up the service was not value for money.

However, his own ward benefits from a good range of fully subsided services, including the 622, 623 and 625 which serve Almondsbury, Over, Easter Compton and Hallen.

Labour Group Leader Councillor Pat Rooney comments:

“The number 10 bus gave Mangotsfield and other east fringe communities a direct public transport link to Southmead Hospital. It provided a lifeline and its withdrawal means a very circuitous journey for those who relied on it, so Labour councillors have been campaigning for a rethink.

 

It is breath-taking hypocrisy for a Tory councillor whose own patch benefits from numerous subsided buses to attack the cost of services in other communities. He is clearly happy with bus cuts, so long as they are not in his own back yard.

 

It is a shameful, if unsurprising, example of Tory selfishness.”

18 October 2018