INTO THE row over Pendle Council's proposed sell-off of its half-share of Burnley and Pendle Transport to private bus operator Stagecoach is hurled a very telling question.

Just what electoral mandate do the ruling Pendle Liberals have for handing over this public asset to the private sector, asks Pendle MP Gordon Prentice.

Quite so.

Did any of the councillors ever stand on a ticket to sell off the municipal buses?

Let them put that point to their consciences when they vote on the sale on Wednesday.

And to that principle let them add the grim experience of other towns when they come to decide - that of the purchaser-in-waiting, Stagecoach, using its muscle to drive competition off the road, so that passengers are at the mercy of a monopoly.

That was not what was promised when deregulation of the buses began in 1985.

Then, the Thatcher government promised us better bus services through increased competition.

Instead we are close to having a private monopoly.

And, with the assistance of Pendle's unprincipled Liberals, it is what a good deal of East Lancashire may end up with.

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