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Freedom Pass costs rocketing
• THE Labour Party’s claim that London’s councils are conspiring to get rid of the Freedom Pass is an absolute misrepresentation of the truth. In fact, the threat to the future of the Freedom Pass is coming from Mayor of London Ken Livingstone’s office.
London’s councils pay out hundreds of millions of pounds a year to provide the Freedom Pass, which is the most generous free travel scheme in the country. We are proud to provide this service.
Since it was introduced, it has been extended to cover national rail services and to give disabled people access to free travel 24 hours a day. There is no change in our commitment to providing this valuable scheme. Nor do we want to water down any of the benefits.
As a council, though, we pay the Mayor and Transport for London to run the scheme, and they decide how much they charge us. Since TfL was set up seven years ago, the price councils are being charged has skyrocketed, far more than is at all reasonable, and far more than is actually needed to provide the service.
It might come as no surprise that this money is over and above the quarter of your tax bill the Mayor already takes. The Freedom Pass levy has been turned by Mr Livingstone into another stealth tax, and another way of squeezing money out of council tax-payers.
By putting the price up, TfL and the Mayor are holding you, the taxpayer, to ransom.
Islington Council is committed to the Freedom Pass, but is demanding that Mr Livingstone and TfL be stopped from increasing this secret levy on Londoners. The decision on charging should be taken independently, and based on the actual costs of providing the service.
CLLR JOHN GILBERT
Lib Dem executive member for health and adult social care |
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