The curious case of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s disappearing bus route
The curious case of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s disappearing bus route
The loss of 42 bus services in the West Country is a symptom of the austerity that the Tory MP has championed.
Behind the paywall: https://archive.is/3udIE
New Statesman being New Statesman they've led with the Jacob Rees-Mogg angle (which is if anything rather tenuous). The actual nub of the story is the issue of the continuing axing of bus subsidies, and how devolution has made things more complicated.
Well really Rees-Mogg is responsible. Westminster has been cutting funding to councils for years, they can't afford it.
Then you have bus companies with their own unscrupulous tactics, not servicing their contracted routes (for little to no penalty - it's cheaper to pay the fine and not pay for a driver) and structuring their businesses with Hollywood style accounting, such that the public facing local businesses operate at a loss while the main group rakes in the profit.
Ultimately, it all falls down to poor regulation by Westminster. Which Rees-Mogg has championed.