Off the back of this article, I wanted to correct some of the points made and to reassure your readers.

Age Concern Hackney and others are misguided if they believe that the Freedom Pass is under any threat: it is not.

The issue of funding is about the additional money the government was granting to help pay for the national bus concessionary scheme that allows people from outside London to travel for free on London buses. It has nothing to do with the Freedom Pass.

London has been receiving more money than it needs to pay for the additional people travelling on our buses. As a result of the review, London will still receive more money than it will cost.

So for 2010/11, the estimate is that it will cost £18 million to run this scheme; the government is giving London £30 million. There is completely separate to the Freedom Pass and isn’t about Londoners travelling on London’s buses.

Secondly, the petition is NOT in the name of London Councils. In fact the Chief Executive of London Councils is in discussions with Number 10 to remove all references of London Councils from the petition.

It is actually authored by the political assistant to the Conservative Group on London Councils – a matter that is also being taken up by his superiors.

I’m afraid that this is a scare campaign by the Conservatives with no grounding in fact. The Freedom Pass is safe and our council will always fight for keeping this important benefit for London’s older and disabled residents.

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