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Minister slammed for 'patronising' bus comments
Bus services in Lancashire should be aimed towards poor people who can't afford cars, a Government minister has said.
Deputy Labour leader and equality minister Harriet Harman said the county's transport bosses should prioritise poor estates over more affluent areas when planning bus routes.
But the suggestion has sparked fury from one local transport campaigner, who branded the idea "patronising" and "condescending".
And he said it will "marginalise" poorer people from the rest of society.
Speaking exclusively to the Evening Post, Ms Harman added that after-school clubs and new housing should also be focused on poorer areas.
Ministers are considering making public bodies tackle inequalities stemming from social background in the same way as they must already do for race, gender and disability.
She said: "There is still a situation where a less able child from a well off family overtakes a more able child from a poor family by the age of seven.
"Local authorities, health authorities, everything which is to do with the public sector, should be thinking how we make it fairer and more equal for people - how we level the playing field and give everybody a fair crack of the whip."
A white paper on social mobility published last month was criticised by the Tories as a reversion by Labour to class-based politics.
It fuelled speculation that councils will be asked to discriminate on grounds of family or educational background in their recruitment policies and could lead to more local education authorities using lotteries to allocate school places.
Ms Harman insisted that any future legal duty would focus on how councils plan their services and would ensure town halls make "common sense" decisions.
Highlighting public transport services as an example, she said: "If you recognise that there is one area where people are more likely to have cars because it is a better off area, then you make sure that you prioritise the bus service for an area where they don't have cars.
"It should be conventional wisdom but we need it in the law so that councils can't just provide things thinly spread everywhere. They should really focus and prioritise when they are planning services, whether it is schools, whether it is transport, housing."
She added: "They would be expected to, for example, if they were setting up after school clubs focus on those areas where the parents perhaps don't have enough money to send their children to different activities after school."
Ms Harman insisted that her idea "really resonates with British sense of fairness".
Ms Harman is consulting on whether a new law is required to force government and councils to help those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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