Cheaper Buses Must be the Start of Wider Cost-of-Living Support

Andy Burnham has a short window to build the trust of disillusioned residents across Newbury and West Berkshire who continue to struggle under the weight of a cost-of-living crisis that just doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. 

So, today’s announcement that the Government will cap most bus fares in England at £2 from January 2027 is a relief, but it is simply a start. 

The Liberal Democrats have called out Labour’s own hike from day one. It was a clear error that hit people in the pocket as they tried to get to work or support their local high street during a cost-of-living crisis. 

Today’s change was an open goal, an easy tap-in for a Prime Minister just through the door. But a wider transformation of transportation across the country must now be kicked into action. That starts with listening to our consistent calls for targeted measures to ease the costs of Trump’s illegal war in Iran - to cap bus fares even lower at £1, slash rail prices by 10%, and cut fuel duty by 10p per litre.

Particularly in rural communities, bus routes are the thread that connect families and allow people to access healthcare, local businesses, or education. However, for rural communities it matters little whether the fare is £2 or £3 if there is no bus service in place.

Since 2015, passenger journeys in West Berkshire have decreased by 31% while routes have been scrapped and fares have risen by 59% (2015-2023), leaving older residents facing social exclusion and young people unable to grasp job opportunities because they have to rely on neighbours or parents for long-distance lifts. 

Rural communities cut off from the vital services they rely on. 

In combination with the £3 billion in multi-year funding announced at the end of last year, I will keep the pressure on to ensure that this is the beginning of local authorities being given the power and money to prioritise what rural communities need most from their bus network. 

Andy Burnham needs to show that he understands rural Britain. We know that this isn’t his comfort zone, and it is one of the reasons why I wrote to the new PM last week to invite him to Newbury and meet our farmers, educators, local business owners, and charities who need immediate support to ease the daily financial pressures they’re facing.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister stated that his government would be a “cost of living government,” and I will hold him to that. Alongside energy bills and taxation, the government must and can do more as around 7.4 million households have been unable to buy the essentials in the past six months.

In the run up to his entrance into No10, we heard lots of fine words but very little detail.  However, as we start to see some support rolled out, the bus fare cap has to be just the first step in a wider package of cost-of-living measures that will give residents across Newbury and West Berkshire the relief they desperately need.