LATE NEWS: Labour pledges policy change
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE LABOUR Party' is to draw up ti-esh plans for an integrated transport policy.
The party conference in Bournemouth this week agreed to update its transport policy in the light of the damage done to it by the Government.
The party also agreed to get the next Labour Government to shift freight from heavy lorries to rail to protect towns and cities.
But the conference threw out proposals that would lead to free public transport for everyone. The new Transport and General Workers' Union deputy general secretary, Bill Morris, described the plans as "Socialist pie in the sky”.
Shadow Transport Secretary Gwyneth Dunwoody was also hostile to the idea, warning that if the Tory Government stayed in office much longer the next Labour Government would have to rebuild public bus and coach services from the very bottom.
Morris warned operators hoping to do well out of deregulation that asset stripping the transport system would be reversed by the next Labour Government. -We shall take them back, garage by garage, bus by bus, including London Transport," he said.
A number of delegates claimed that the deregulation of the bus industry was an attack on the working class because they would end up deprived of services and stuck in their homes.