Prime Minister posts on X after major announcement on disabled bus passes

Harrogate’s Lib Dem MP has received credit from Labour Prime Minster Andy Burnham for his role in the fight to get disabled bus pass restrictions scrapped.

Labour's Mayor of York and North Yorkshire also acknowledged Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon’s prominent role in a near two-year campaign to change the rules of free bus passes so that disabled pass holders will be able to travel free at any time of day.

Mr Gordon had celebrated the Government announcement earlier today with local Liberal Democrats and Disability Action Yorkshire at Harrogate bus depot in Starbeck.

While he was acknowledging all their roles, others were acknowledging his.

Celebrating bus passes victory - Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon with Jackie Snape, CEO of Disability Action Yorkshire charity. (Picture contributed)

York and North Yorkshire’s Labour Mayor David Skaith also posted about the news today, saying on Facebook "credit where it's due to Tom Gordon MP who has been calling for this for some time now."

As for Harrogate and Knaresborough’s MP himself, he said: "Standing at the local bus stop this morning with local Lib Dem councillors and with Jackie and her team, it hit me what two years of campaigning has actually won: disabled people in Harrogate, Knaresborough and across the country can now get on the bus whenever they need to.

"Disabilities don't start at 9 o'clock, and soon neither will disabled bus passes.

"I'm grateful to the Prime Minister and to Mayor Skaith for their generous words.

"It shouldn't have taken this long - Labour MPs voted this down less than a year ago.

"But I've always said I’m willing to work with anyone who’ll roll up their sleeves and help get it over the line, and I meant it.

"This win belongs to the disabled people who told me what these restrictions were costing them, to Disability Action Yorkshire, Waterside Changemakers, Transport for All and Whizz Kidz, and to the Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners across the country who kept pushing."

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon first raised the issue in Parliament, during Transport questions, on February 13, 2025.