John Milne MP: Save our rural bus services

I took the opportunity to raise the issue of rural bus services locally: “In many villages in my constituency of Horsham, it is just not practical any more to rely on buses to get to work….across West Sussex, the local authority has for many years presided over a policy of managed decline, with no serious attempt to reverse or even stabilise things.” I particularly singled out the recent sudden reduction in service, without any warning, of the No 17 from Partridge Green to Horsham.

I was joined by many Lib Dem and Labour MPs who could tell similar stories of decline in their own constituencies. But was notable was the almost complete absence of any Conservative MP from the chamber, with the exception of their spokesman for transport who was obliged to be there anyway. With that level of interest, it’s no wonder we’ve lost so many rural bus services over the past 14 years.

Two days earlier I shared in another debate of historical significance, as the House voted narrowly by 138 to 136 to advance a Bill promoting a switch to proportional representation to the next stage. The arcane rules of Parliament mean that this Bill is unlikely to ever pass all the way through into law, but it was a shock nonetheless. Many Labour MPs joined the Lib Dems to vote against their official party line.

As Sarah Olney (Lib Dem, Richmond Park) described, in the last election our outdated first-past-the-post voting system has delivered two thirds of the seats in the House of Commons to the Labour party, which attracted just one third of the votes cast. Almost 60% of voter are not represented in Parliament by the candidate that they voted for. This is the most disproportionate election result that this country has ever seen.

We will continue to see falling turnout and a general loss of faith in our democracy until we fix this issue.