Councillor's Web Diary Causes A Stir in City Hall
Outspoken local Councillor, Phil Taylor, has sparked another City Hall row with his blog comments on Freedom bus passes.
The deputy portfolio holder for finance and performance advocated reallocating pensioners’ free bus pass cash to instead help the ‘very old’.
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone took the bait, hitting back at Taylor’s comments: “I disagree with his claim that free bus travel for older Londoners and disabled people is ‘quite mad’ from any point of view at all.”
He defended the scheme, saying the pass was, ‘one of the most successful schemes ever introduced’ by a London government. And he went further,"Cllr Taylor's call for the Freedom Pass to be "re-targeted at the very old" is code for huge cuts which would hit hundreds of thousands of older Londoners and disabled people, many of whom rely on the Freedom Pass to get to the shops and see family and friends."
On his blog, Cllr Taylor responded as readers would expect – in outspoken fashion. “The Mayor has just released a press release quoting my blog and using tiny little snippets in the hope that lazy journalists will pick up what he is saying without any research,” he said.
And on the scheme… "As a ward councillor I meet many old people marooned in their homes unable to leave. Freedom Passes are no use to them, they can't even get out of their front doors, let alone on to buses,” he said.
"It is very poor targeting of limited resources to spend £213million on more than a million people, many of whom really don't need this concession.
"It would make much more sense for the boroughs to free some of this cash up to spend on the really old who are amongst the most disadvantaged in society. The Mayor is not protecting the old and disabled he is protecting his power. It is easy for the Mayor to posture in this area but the boroughs have real responsibilities for the care of the old and disabled."
Cllr Taylor added: "The Mayor is essentially saying he knows best in spite of having no responsibility for care, unlike the boroughs. Freedom Passes may bolster TfL's budget but they are not necessarily the best way to help these groups."
This not the first time the councillor's blog has come in for attack. The Ealing Gazette reported complaints of his "insensitive and inappropriate comments" about people with poor health on the site.
Around 43,000 Ealing residents currently claim the pass.
February 15, 2007