Burnham’s Bus Power Grab to Cost Taxpayer £226 Million a Year – Guido Fawkes

Burnham’s Bus Power Grab to Cost Taxpayer £226 Million a Year

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When King of the North Andy Burnham isn’t taking shots at Starmer – his latest broadside aimed at Labour’s welfare cuts – he’s busy finding ever more inventive ways to splash taxpayers’ cash in his Greater Manchester Combined Authority. A cool £75,000 on “Race Equality Panels” comes to mind…

Burnham has been trumpeting Manchester’s Bee Network- a plan to streamline Greater Manchester’s transport system by rolling out contactless “tap and go” payments across buses and trams, and introducing hundreds of yellow bee-branded buses by 2026, with the aim of bringing all local bus services under central control. Yet, the latest budget papers presented to the GMCA reveal the sting in the tail: the annual net cost of running the Bee Network’s bus services is projected to hit a staggering £226 million. No surprise Burnham is pushing for a “proper” compulsory tourist tax for those visiting Manchester then…

For that, you could:

• Employ 6,848 bin lorry drivers.
• Fill 3,138,888 potholes.
• Buy 19,399 unmarked police cars.

The taxpayer may have a view on which should be prioritised. UK DOGE recommends costs are cut here…