Gordon Brown Introduced Free Bus Passes For The Elderly

[Gromit]

In a cynical ploy to woo elderly voters, the Labour leader brought in free bus travel for OAPs back in 2008.

Good to see that Boris liked the Labour policy so much, he is now claiming credit for it. Chalk that up ‘Tory lie of the week’.

[Gromit]

Here’s an antique link for you

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7324086.stm

[gulliver1]

It's only Wed ...... More Tory lies to come, no doubt.

[barry1010]

Boris was specifically talking about the Freedom bus pass which is totally different from the nationalised bus pass labour introduced in 2008.
Boris did indeed create the Freedom bus pass.

Of course, state pensioners have had free bus travel for decades, long before 2008.

[DonkeyHoaty]

By my reckoning Johnson will resign by next Wednesday.
The local election results will obviously be a disaster.
Then I believe we have the next set of fines to be issued, of which the press speculated there are at least 3 or 4 more in which Johnson is implicated.
Shortly after will be the full and unredacted Gray report.
How much longer can the Conservative party hierarchy withstand the onslaught? More than three quarters of people polled recently believe Johnson to be dishonest.
He’ll be gone by midweek next week after the weekend post mortem of the local election results.
But who next? Sunak has massively blotted his copy book so it won’t be him.

[ToraToraTora]

Boris was referring to the extension of "Freedom Pass" Bus Passes to those 60+ from November 2012 when he was Mayor. Nothing to see here.

[Gromit]

// state pensioners have had free bus travel for decades, long before 2008. //

Enlighten me please. I remember concessionary fares, but not free travel.

[ToraToraTora]

donkey: "By my reckoning Johnson will resign by next Wednesday.
The local election results will obviously be a disaster. " - I'll bet you any amount you like to the charity of your choice that Boris will not resign by next Wednesday. Do you have the bottle to back your own view?

[ToraToraTora]

well for a start Freedom pass started in 1973 and there were concessionary schemes before that.

[dannyk13]

DH//The local election results will obviously be a disaster.//
Local election results are not a true indication of what the outcome of a General Election might be.Boris will not resign over a bad local election result.

[barry1010]

Gromit, in Birmingham state pensioners had free bus travel between 9:30 and 15:30 and after 18:00 to start of night service Monday to Friday and all day weekends since the very early 60s to my certain knowledge.

[DonkeyHoaty]

Avatar Image ToraToraTora
donkey: "By my reckoning Johnson will resign by next Wednesday.
The local election results will obviously be a disaster. " - I'll bet you any amount you like to the charity of your choice that Boris will not resign by next Wednesday. Do you have the bottle to back your own view?

It’s just an opinion posted on an Internet forum. What bottle do I need?
That said, unless you have generous Russian friends I doubt you could match a £100,000 wager so I’ll politely decline your kind offer.

[naomi24]

//Enlighten me please. I remember concessionary fares, but not free travel. //

1973 gromit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Pass

[naomi24]

^Cross-posted.

[ToraToraTora]

donkey: "It’s just an opinion posted on an Internet forum. What bottle do I need?" - the bottle to back your own view with your own money.
"That said, unless you have generous Russian friends I doubt you could match a £100,000 wager so I’ll politely decline your kind offer. " - you are new here but anyone will tell you I always honour my bets on here, they are rare because most people spout BS that they don't even believe themselves. I suspect this is such a case. I was thinking of a more modest amount though to be fair. I will bet you £20 to a charity of your choice (or mine) that Boris does not resign next Wednesday. I will post proof of the donation if I lose I expect you to do the same. Have you got the bottle to back your own view or are you yet another paper tiger?

[DonkeyHoaty]

Avatar Image dannyk13
DH//The local election results will obviously be a disaster.//
Local election results are not a true indication of what the outcome of a General Election might be.

I totally agree. However, no sitting Prime Minister in history has even been under the amount of pressure and scrutiny as Johnson currently is, not has the weight of feeling of the general public been so prominent.
As I said, the Tory party will not be able to withstand the pressure that the results will add to his already insurmountable burden and they’ll realise he must be got rid of quickly in order for them to try and save their seat before the next General Election. That’ll be why so many have already been vocal since the partygate scandal.
They’re fighting for their political lives and they know it.

[Gromit]

The interviewer did not say that ‘Elsie’ lived in London. His answer was totally irrelevant if she is lives in Wigan or anywhere else out of London.

London did indeed have free travel for the elderly before Gordon Brown took the scheme nationwide. But it was not introduced by Boznocchio, it was brought in by Reg Goodwin, Labour leader of the GLC in 1973.

[ToraToraTora]

donkey: "As I said, the Tory party will not be able to withstand the pressure that the results will add to his already insurmountable burden and they’ll realise he must be got rid of quickly in order for them to try and save their seat before the next General Election. That’ll be why so many have already been vocal since the partygate scandal.
They’re fighting for their political lives and they know it. " - but you don't believe that yourself do you?

[ToraToraTora]

10:47....and Boris extended it in 2012 to include 60 and over. That's what he was referring to.

[DonkeyHoaty]

Tell you what ToraToraTora, put that bet instead on Johnson even being the PM on the eve of the next General Election.
Before you do though, remember that Johnson is being investigated by fellow MP’s over allegations of misleading the House and that the Gray report is yet to be published.
Let’s see if you believe your own BS about his great speech yesterday that barely got a mention.

[Gromit]

My optimistic prediction was that Boris would call it a day on Friday 13th May. That was probably optimistic. It was based on a lot of things not going his way - local elections, fines, reports, parliamentary inquiry, Wakefield by election, 54 letters and economic bad news.
Since then, the Met are still dragging their feet and don’t expect to be finished until summer, so Gray won’t be published until then, the disgraced Wakefield MP took forever to resign so an election date hasn’t even been set. So no, Boris is reprieved.