Labour's Teenage Transport Tax

Northumberland County Council's Labour administration wants to impose a Teenage Tax of over £400 per year on post 16 students travel costs.  Northumberland Conservatives oppose this plan and are asking that Labour Councillors to review where they can find savings from other parts of the budget, like staff car allowances, automatic incremental pay increases, or empty property maintenance costs.

We  believe that it is unfair to charge our young people, especially in our rural areas where they have no choice, to get to school or college and by taxing their travel costs we will be cutting off our poorest students from potential future careers and economic success for our country. This is an issue that has particularly upset locals in West Northumberland and we have been helping local mums and dads in villages like Longbyre, Halton Lea Gate, and Herdley Bank.  

My colleague in North Northumberland, Anne Marie Trevelyan, has been leading this campaign across the wider County, and you can sign her petition here:

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/stoptheteenagetax