Grant Shapps overseeing 'managed decline' of buses in South Yorkshire, Louise Haigh alleges

The Sheffield Heeley MP accused Transport Secretary Mr Shapps of neglecting levelling up promises, just hours after it was revealed that services will be slashed across the region from as soon as next month.

Ms Haigh said that from October after 10pm, just four buses will serve the area of more than one million people.

Sheffield and Rotherham will start to see reductions as soon as July 24 and more cuts are expected when the Government-issued Covid-19 grants end in October.

A tender process, which took place this week, listed a number of services in Sheffield and Rotherham being partially or axed completely.

Addressing Mr Shapps in the House of Commons this morning, she said: “From near record delays on railways, mile-long tailbacks at Dover, disruption at airports and the first national strike in three decades, everything this Transport Secretary is responsible for is falling apart.

“Now to his promise on buses. From October, when the Covid funding runs out, there will be four buses across the whole of South Yorkshire after 10pm – that’s four buses for over 1.3 million people.

“This isn’t levelling up, is it? This is managed decline.”

Responding to Ms Haigh, Transport minister Trudy Harrison replied: “The Government has made available over £2 billion of support to date through emergency and recovery grants since March 2020 to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the bus and light rail services

“These measures are in addition to the £200 million provided annually directly to commercial operators to keep the fares down and to run an extensive network through the bus services operators’ grant.”

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said the region is facing “devastating consequences for our communities.

He said in a statement: “We are now facing the immediate threat of the biggest and most damaging cuts for a generation.

“People in Sheffield and Rotherham will feel the brunt of these brutal cuts initially next month when private bus companies withdraw their services on the less profitable routes.

“On my first morning as mayor I wrote to the Prime Minister and challenged him to urgently deliver on his promise to level up our country. I made it clear that investment in our buses is vital for our region to flourish.

“Yet, despite the promises of the government, we’re far from seeing dramatic improvement on public transport, that would take us close to a London style connectivity. We are facing a dramatic cutting of funding, with devastating consequences for our communities.”