Fact check: UK Government has not announced free bus fares for immigrants

A TikTok account posted an image of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with a caption claiming that “they announced free bus fares for immigrants”.

The post also said: “It’s obvious now why bus fares go up to£3.”

Evaluation

The UK Government has not announced it will be offering free bus fares to immigrants in the Budget, or otherwise. However, there have been proposals for free bus fares for those seeking asylum from groups including the London Assembly.

The facts

The official transcript of Rachel Reeves’ first Budget speech as Chancellor includes her announcement about setting the bus fare cap at £3 until December 2025, an increase from the previous £2 cap. This is a cap and does not mean all fares will be raised to £3.

However, there is no mention of free bus travel for immigrants in Ms Reeves’ speech and the word “immigrant” does not feature.

The full Budget document is available online and mentions the bus fare cap in a section on the Department for Transport and “supporting everyday journeys”. There is no mention of subsidised bus fares for any group or community.

Although national Government has not suggested free travel for immigrants, the London Assembly earlier this month called on mayor Sadiq Khan to help find “ways to support public transport access for asylum seekers … to enable access to necessary journeys”. The mayor has not introduced these recommendations at the time of writing.

Asylum seekers are not the same as immigrants, with the former being a person who has left their country and is looking for protection from persecution in a different country and is awaiting a decision on their asylum claim. The latter is a person who has left their home country and settled permanently in a different country.

In November, Oxfordshire County Council announced the launch of a six-month pilot scheme to allow free bus travel for asylum seekers who live within the city of Oxford, in partnership with Asylum Welcome and bus companies in the city.

Although separate from the UK Government, on several occasions the Scottish Government has spoken about free bus travel for asylum seekers. Most recently, the Scottish Government has recommitted to providing free bus travel for people seeking asylum by 2026 after a debate in Holyrood. Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) voted in favour of a motion from the Scottish Greens for the policy to be reintroduced. In 2023, then-first minister Humza Yousaf said £2 million had been kept aside for the scheme, which was then scrapped in August 2024.

Links

Original TikTok post (archived)

Autumn Budget 2024 speech (archived)

Gov.uk – National bus fare cap (archived)

Autumn Budget 2024 (HTML) – GOV.UK (archived)

London Assembly press release (archived)

Asylum seeker and immigrant definitions  (archived)

Bus scheme in Oxford (archived)

Scottish Government information on bus travel for asylum seekers (archived)