I was pleased last week to help celebrate the launch of Liverpool’s new locally owned and controlled bus service that will operate across the city region. It is the first step to a fully-integrated transport offer across the region and will see Liverpool run our own bus services in the six council areas.

While the Tories were busy cancelling HS2 Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and our Liverpool City Region Combined Authority were busy investing in the future of transport in Merseyside, becoming only the second area outside of London to have a franchised system since 1985. It means we will have greater control over fares and routes while investing any profit back into the network to improve services for passengers.

This won’t be a quick process, with reregulation across the whole network happening over the next few years, but it will mean that our buses will be back where they belong, in public hands. I’m pleased that this will make getting around our region cheaper, greener and more reliable.