Progressive London briefing - February 2009 Freedom pass guarantee under threat
Monday, 23 February 2009 13:22
Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson is backing plans to change the law to remove the legal power of the Mayor of London to guarantee the Freedom Pass even if the boroughs try to cut it.
London Councils, coordinating body of London boroughs currently led by the Conservative Party, has announced that it has reached agreement with Mayor Boris Johnson that he will support changes to the Freedom Pass “reserve scheme” by abolishing the Mayor of London’s “guarantee” of the Freedom Pass. The mayor’s office confirms that the agreement has been reached.
Tory Transport for London board member, Daniel Moylan, has called the Freedom Pass a ‘stealth tax on Londoners’ and led a campaign to remove the mayor’s guarantee which was opposed by then-mayor Ken Livingstone and defeated in Parliament.
The Freedom Pass
Free bus travel for older Londoners was extended into a London-wide scheme by the Labour GLC of 1973; this was further extended to include Tube services by the Labour GLC administration of 1981-86, when Ken Livingstone was the Leader of the council.
What is the Freedom Pass reserve scheme and why does it matter?
The reserve scheme guarantee is a mechanism to ensure the continued funding and operation of the Freedom Pass. Without free travel on public transport, many older residents would find it impossible to get to the shops or visit family and friends.
At present the Mayor – through Transport for London – has the power to step-in and guarantee the Freedom Pass if the London boroughs cannot agree the arrangements for the Freedom Pass between themselves. This guarantee is the safety net on which the continuation of the Freedom Pass scheme can be ensured. Under the existing arrangements, if the London boroughs have not reached agreement with Transport for London by 31 December before the next financial year then the statutory reserve scheme comes into effect at a cost determined by Transport for London, effectively ensuring that the concession cannot be watered down or under-funded. The reserve scheme is the safety net that guarantees continued operation of the Freedom Pass if all else fails. It also ensures that the final decision is ultimately in the hands of the elected political leadership of the city – the Mayor, rather than the boroughs – providing crucial political accountability.
The importance of the guarantee has been shown in the past when pensioners and disabled people mobilized against the most recent attempt by London Councils to abolish the reserve scheme.
What do the Tories want?
The Tories want to remove the essential element of the reserve scheme by placing the final decision in the hands of an “arbiter”. This would mean that if there was a dispute about the arrangement for the Freedom Pass the final say would no longer be in the hands of London ’s elected Mayor – responsible to Londoners for their decision – but an unaccountable bureaucrat.
The Tories’ argument is motivated by calls to cut spending on the Freedom Pass – such as Conservative politicians describing it as a “stealth tax” and urging that it be “re-targeted”.
During the last attempt to remove the reserve scheme, the Tory-led London Councils argued for the power to be removed from the mayor and passed to the Secretary of State for Transport, shifting the decision from City Hall to Whitehall and ensuring that a figure not necessarily even from London would have the final say over the future of the Freedom Pass. This was rejected by ministers who argued that the mayor’s guarantee should remain, and was ultimately defeated in Parliament. (Boris Johnson failed to vote in these key debates).
Tories argued at the time that the Freedom Pass should be brought into line with concessionary schemes outside London – where there is no similar reserve scheme – but London’s scheme is the most long-standing, successful and extensive scheme of its kind in Britain. The Freedom Pass guarantees over one million older and disabled Londoners free travel on the tube, bus, train and tram in London. In contrast pensioners in counties that border London such as Surrey, Kent and Essex only travel free on buses.
Repeated Conservative attacks on the Freedom Pass
During 2006/07 the Conservative-led London Councils used the occasion of new government legislation extending free travel schemes across Britain as an opportunity to seek to abolish the mayor’s guarantee of the Freedom Pass. London Councils sponsored amendments in Parliament, which were opposed by a coalition including Mayor Ken Livingstone, older peoples’ groups, disabled peoples’ organisations, trade unions, MPs, Assembly members, and prominent individuals including Michael Parkinson, Sir David Jason, Michael Palin, Clare Rayner, Richard Wilson and Prunella Scales.
As is shown from their comments, the Tories’ priority is to cut spending not protect older people.
* On 14th September 2006 the London Councils Transport and Environment Committee, chaired by Conservative councillor, Daniel Moylan, received a briefing which said they should lobby “for the abolition of the London reserve scheme.”
* On 29th January 2007 Conservative-led London Councils sponsored a series of amendments to the Concessionary Bus Travel Bill in an attempt to abolish the reserve travel scheme which guarantees the Freedom Pass.
* On 6th February 2007, Conservative councillor and blogger Phil Taylor - then deputy chair of Ealing's Finance and Performance Committee - said the Freedom Pass should be “re-targeted” away from most pensioners to the “very old”.
* On 5th June 2007 - London Councils Transport and Environment Committee chair, Conservative councillor Daniel Moylan, attacked the Freedom Pass a ”stealth tax on Londoners”. Daniel Moylan is now one of Boris Johnson’s appointees on the Transport for London Board.
* On Monday 14th May 2007 the Freedom Pass guarantee was criticised by a number of Conservative MPs during the debate on the Concessionary Bus Travel Bill, including Romford MP, Andrew Rosindell, who said, “The system needs a review and I hope that the Minister will consider that”.
The government has opposed these Tory attacks to remove the reserve scheme, arguing that it remains the best way to ensure the continued delivery of the Freedom Pass:
* During the debate Lord Davies of Oldham set out the government’s position, arguing that the reserve scheme is the “safety net” that has delivered uninterrupted concessionary travel in London. He said: “We agree with [Mayor of London Ken Livingstone] because the purpose of the scheme is to guarantee concessionary travel in London in situations where there is no agreement among the London boroughs or between the boroughs and TfL. Amendment No. 9 seeks to alter Section 240 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to replace what is currently a voluntary ability for London boroughs and TfL to enter into arrangements to provide travel concessions with a compulsory obligation to enter into these arrangements. That is a pretty significant change, and I am not surprised that it has caught the attention of the Mayor of London. I recognise that arrangements for concessionary travel are different in the capital. The 1999 Act secures that the boroughs are able to agree schemes voluntarily with TfL. These voluntary arrangements are underpinned by a safety net - the reserve scheme, which the noble Lord says is unnecessary. If the voluntary arrangements do not meet certain minimum requirements, the reserve scheme is triggered. This has been successful in the past; it has delivered uninterrupted concessionary travel in the capital these past eight years and there would have to be some very strong arguments for removing it.”
* During the 2nd reading of the Concessionary Bus Travel Bill, Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander MP backed the role of the Mayor of London to guarantee funding for the Freedom Pass. He said: ‘The framework that has been negotiated for Freedom Passes is rightfully a matter for those in London, as opposed to it being one that is determined by the Secretary of State for Transport.’
* In response to a question by Eltham MP, Clive Efford, at Prime Minister's Questions, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “The Freedom Pass is extremely important. It has been a tremendous boon for pensioners and disabled people in London. It has been through partnerships with the Mayor of London and local councils. We have managed to ensure that free local transport is there for pensioners. And when the Concessionary Bus Travel Bill comes before the Houses of Parliament next Monday, I hope the opposition will not put that progress at risk.”
Boris Johnson’s record on the Freedom Pass
Boris Johnson’s record contrasts sharply with previous mayor Ken Livingstone. Boris Johnson failed to vote to keep the mayor’s guarantee when it was debated in Parliament, and is now backing the Tory boroughs’ case for the abolition of the guarantee.
Although he has adopted Ken Livingstone’s policy of extending the Freedom Pass for operation 24 hours a day he has failed to deliver the extension to 24-hour operation to overground rail. He has also been criticised for not even knowing that the existing pass worked on overground rail.
His decision not fund the 24-hour extension of the pass from TfL funds (unlike Ken Livingstone’s commitment), instead relying on the boroughs to fund the extension, has led to the concession that the mayor’s guarantee should be abolished. There were warnings at the time of the election that the ambiguity in Boris Johnson’s Freedom Pass commitments would make him beholden to the Tory boroughs.
During the 2008 mayoral election on 28 April Boris Johnson’s campaign issued a statement from Johnson supporter Brian Cooke, describing Ken Livingstone’s policy of extending the Freedom Pass to before 9am as a “mad idea” and “plain daft”.
Is it simply a coincidence that Boris Johnson has appointed Daniel Moylan, who led the campaign to abolish the mayor’s guarantee and described the Freedom Pass as a “stealth tax on Londoners”, to membership of the Transport for London Board?
Conclusion
The Freedom Pass reserve scheme – the mayor’s guarantee of the Freedom Pass – is an essential safety net that ensures the continued operation of the Freedom Pass if London borough councils fail to agree its funding arrangements. Boris Johnson’s decision to support the removal of the mayor’s guarantee would transfer the final say on the Freedom Pass, which benefits over a million Londoners, from London’s elected political leader to an unaccountable figure.
The Conservative party in London has a long track-record of attacks on the mayor’s Freedom Pass guarantee, up to and including seeking changes in the law to remove it. The Conservatives’ real agenda is shown by the argument that the Freedom Pass is a “stealth tax”: the Tories’ position is about cutting spending on the Freedom Pass. The mayor’s support for further attempts to abolish the mayor’s guarantee, which protects a free travel concession for older and disabled Londoners, directly assists this long-standing Conservative position.
