West Yorkshire MPs' joint call to bring First Bus services into public ownership

The letter, spearheaded by Leeds North West MP Alex Sobel, calls on Matthew Gregory to sell the West Yorkshire division of First Bus as a separate entity - which would give the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), which looks after transport and large infrastructure projects, the chance to buy and then improve the services.

It follows news that First Group PLC is looking to sell its UK bus operations as part of a restructure of the company. First currently runs around 60 per cent of the region’s buses.

Mr Sobel said: “We need First Group first to agree to sell the West Yorkshire division separately and to give WYCA the first option to buy.

"Our focus then will be to make sure WYCA gets the funding that it needs and there are several potential avenues for this.

"The standard of our bus service is not of the quality that it needs to be to ensure reliability for our constituents and to encourage wide scale usage.

"If we are successful in this campaign, we can finally provide our constituents with oversight of their service, putting the people in the driving seat.”

The letter to Mr Gregory said the sale represented 'a singular opportunity to transform bus operations in our area', adding that there was 'widespread public support' for public ownership.

Leeds MP's Rachel Reeves, Hilary Benn, Richard Burgon and Fabian Hamilton all signed the letter.

"We have a long-shared aim of increasing the usage of buses locally as a more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to the private car," it read.

"We believe that interest is best served by allowing for passengers to have a stake in their own service through the local combined authority."