Prime Minister pays tribute to Harrogate and Knaresborough MP in the Commons over disabled bus pass win - as Tom Gordon presses him to go further

Andy Burnham told the House of Commons that Tom Gordon “ran a great campaign” to scrap time restrictions on disabled bus passes — and agreed with the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP that “the job is not done” while disabled people who need a companion to travel still face a postcode lottery.

Speaking after the Burnham’s first statement to the House of Commons as PM, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough thanked the PM for the cross-party support that helped deliver the end of time restrictions on disabled bus passes across England.

Mr Gordon then immediately pressed to PM sort out the postcode lottery of companion bus passes for disabled people who can’t travel alone.

Responding, the Prime Minister paid tribute to Mr Gordon directly, telling the House: “He was kind enough to invite me to a meeting of the all-party group when he was campaigning on that issue, and we did work on it cross-party and I was pleased to be able to make that change as Prime Minister, and it is something that will benefit a huge number of disabled people.”

Burnham added: “He ran a great campaign.”

A rare moment of on-the-record cross-party credit, the exchange followed almost two years of campaigning by Mr Gordon that began with a constituent raising the issue at an event with Disability Action Yorkshire in Harrogate.

Raising the issue in the Chamber, Mr Gordon said he was “really grateful” that “come next year, disability bus passes won’t start at 9:30am, because disabilities don’t either”.

Companion passes, which allow a disabled bus pass holder to bring someone with them free of charge, are handed out entirely at the discretion of individual councils in England.
While some authorities offer them, others have withdrawn them to save money, leaving disabled people paying twice for a single journey or simply not travelling at all. Scotland and Wales both provide companion travel as standard.

Mr Gordon asked the Prime Minister to “deliver the same cross-party success” on companion passes as he had on the 9:30am rule.

The Prime Minister agreed the work was unfinished, telling the House: “But he is right that the job is not done, because many disabled people will say they can’t go out and live their life without a companion and sometimes they can’t afford to pay for that. So work, further work to be done.”

Tom Gordon MP, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said:

“It took nearly two years, but we got there — from April 2027, disabled people across England will be able to use their bus pass whenever they need it, because disabilities don’t clock on at half past nine.

“I’m grateful the Prime Minister came to our event in Parliament, listened to the charities and disabled people in the room, and then actually did something about it. That’s how this place is supposed to work.

“But a bus pass is no use to you if you can’t get on the bus alone and can’t afford a second fare. Right now, whether you get a companion pass depends entirely on which side of a council boundary you live on. That is not a policy — it’s a lottery, and disabled people are the ones losing.

“The Prime Minister accepted today that the job isn’t done. I’ll hold him to that. Let’s finish it.”