ISOLATION?

The call by Gordon Brown's Deputy Leader that bus services should not be provided for the 'more affluent areas' would be the final step in the isolation of many of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

By suggesting that transport authorities should 'prioritise' support for bus services away from what Harriet Harman calls 'affluent' areas reveals a frightening lack of understanding facing many of the bus users in Bolton.

In Bolton and across the North West of England, there are people in every community, rich or poor, who do not have a car either by choice or by circumstances such as health. Some of those people do not live in areas served by trains and, unlike Government Ministers, do not have taxpayer-funded chauffeurs.

Ms Harman's suggestion would leave the most vulnerable people in our community cut off from their friends and relatives and community centre's, and would lead to even more isolation for them. 

For reference: the comments by Harriet Harman were given in an interview yesterday to the Lancashire Evening Post. http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Minister-slammed-for-39patronising39-bus.4999003.jp