MP Welcomes More Money For Schools On Budget Statement

Free Bus Travel Extended After MP's Campaign

In welcoming the Chancellor’s tenth budget statement Warrington North MP

HELEN JONES said:

“The extra resources for education will mean direct money for the typical primary school in Warrington will rise from £31,000 this year to £40,000 and from £98,000 this year to £185,000 for the typical secondary school.

I am particularly pleased with the announcement that free off peak national bus travel for every pensioner and disabled person is to be introduced.  I, along with a number of colleagues, have been campaigning to have the scheme extended and it is great news that the Chancellor has heeded our pleas.  The current scheme means pensioners in Burtonwood, for example, with doctors in St Helens do not qualify for free bus travel over the borough boundary. This announcement will rectify that anomaly and others like it.  Pensioners living on the outskirts of my constituency will be delighted. 

Fundamentally the Budget is about maintaining a stable economy and Gordon Brown has again shown that he is one of the best Chancellors this country has ever had. The government continues to deliver high and stable levels of growth and employment along with a low and stable inflation rate which results in more opportunity and rising living standards for us all. "