Bill 'falsehoods' turned down
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CLAIMS that the Transport Bill would hit concessionary fares for the elderly and the disabled are totally false, Transport Under Secretary Reg Eyre has told MPs.
Speaking in the committee stage of the Bill, Mr Eyre told MPs that payments by Metropolitan County Councils and the Greater London Council for concessions under existing powers would be entirely a matter for them.
The Government accepted they were necessary and they were financed separately. But children's fares would be covered by the overall limit on protected levels of subsidy being enacted by the Bill.
Mr Eyre attacked the documents published by the Tyne and Wear County Council, alleging that the Bill would mean the end of concessionary fares for the elderly and the disabled.
"We made it clear from the beginning that the power to make payments for various concessionary fares would not be affected. To allege otherwise is to cause a great deal of unnecessary worry and distress for the elderly, the blind, and the disabled," he said.
The protected levels that the Government is suggesting for next year are in every case higher than this year's Supplementary Grant.
After almost a full 24 hours of debate, the committee finally rejected moves by Labour MPs to exclude individual authorities from the Bill.