Dole fares 'hammer blow'
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GREATER Manchester County councillor Ken Hickman has described Government opposition to GMC plans for cheap fares for the unemployed as a "hammer blow to the economy of Greater Manchester."
Mr Hickman, chairman of the GMC passenger transport committee was speaking after the publication of a letter from Transport Under Secretary Reginald Eyre which said that "the Government does not believe that schemes of this kind are the best way to help the unemployed".
The letter followed the successful first reading of a Bill introduced by Manchester Labour MP Alf Morris, which would have allowed PTEs to offer such concessions to the unemployed.
Despite the letter, which suggests that the Government will now oppose the Bill, GMC will continue to apply Parliamentary pressure, and hopes and expects that the Morris Bill will be re-introduced in the next session of Parliament.