Go-Ahead, the new owners of Plymouth CityBus today announced 15 job losses from the company despite assurances made by the Tory Council when they sold the company that there would be no job cuts for six months. Tonight there are 15 families who will worry about how they are to pay the bills tonight – all because Plymouth’s Tory Council broke its promise and sold CityBus against the will of the people.
The Conservatives who forced through the sale should be mightily ashamed of themselves today. Having committed to safeguard jobs under the new owner these redundancies confirmed everything we needed to know about Tory promises – that they are not worth the paper they are written on. They promised not to sell CityBus and they broke that promise and sold the company. They promised there would be no job losses for six months. Today 15 people will have to go home and tell their families that they won’t have a job soon. So much for Tory assurances the company’s staff would be in safe hands.
My colleague, Cllr Tudor Evans, Leader of the Labour Group on Plymouth City Council, sums up the situation perfectly. “We are used to Tories breaking their promises on pools, Life Centre and so on but this takes the biscuit,” he said. “When they forced through the sale of CityBus in the teeth of public opinion, they promised job safety for six months. 45 days later, it’s another broken promise. It’s bad for the City, terrible for democracy but most of all its tragic for the employees of CityBus.”
David Cameron often remarks that if he wins the General Election he will model his government on the work of Conservative Councils. I do hope he doesn’t seek to model government on how Plymouth is run. Rather than taking lessons on public administration from Cllr Vivien Pengelly, Plymouth’s Tory Leader, he should be heartedly ashamed of Plymouth’s Conservative-run Council. I am. I wonder how she will respond to the job losses? Will she apologise for misleading the people of Plymouth with false assurances? Let’s see.
When we were fighting against the sale Labour warned that jobs would be lost, routes would be cut and fares would rise if CityBus was sold. The Leader of the Conservative Council denied that this would be case and Tories accused Labour of scaremongering. Today, we’ve seen one of those predictions come true – much sooner than we expected. How much longer will it be before fares go up and routes close? And how many more drivers, mechanics and office staff will be sacked in the future?
On Thursday, May 6 we have the chance to boot out the architect of the sale of CityBus, Cllr Vivien Pengelly, and send a message to Plymouth Tories that they cannot govern for themselves and their pet projects. Use your vote wisely – and ask yourself what other promises and assurances the Tories are offering at the moment will turn out to be lies, bluster and spin?
This article was written for my regular column on the People’s Republic of South Devon blog.
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