AN MP is set to take the battle for Bolton’s buses all the way to the Government.

David Crausby has slammed the “continued erosion of public transport" in the area, which has recently seen the withdrawal of night bus services between Bolton and Manchester.

Mr Crausby, who represents Bolton North East, said he will be contacting Patrick McLoughlin, the Secretary of State for Transport, to ask for more support for Bolton’s public transport infrastructure — including supported services.

He said: “A number of local residents have been in contact with me over the last few weeks to express their concern about the removal of night bus services between Manchester City Centre and Bolton.

“This follows a number of issues across the town with long established bus routes being withdrawn.”

He said the Government’s “drastic cuts" to council budgets has significantly reduced the budget of Transport for Greater Manchester, adding: “In the last two years the budget for supported services has fallen by 20 per cent a cash total of £7.3 million a year.

“The cuts have led to a reduction in the number of existing supported bus services, and made it much harder to find extra funds for TfGM to intervene when private companies chose to withdraw from certain routes.”

This was the case with the 8, 36 and 39 Night Bus services — which were withdrawn in 2014 but kept in operation by First Manchester as commercial operations, before the company announced that it could not continue to run them past the start of this month.

Mr Crausby said: “With no late night train services from Manchester and no buses, local residents will find themselves unable to stay late in Manchester unless they can afford high taxi fares, stay over until morning, or find a generous friend who can provide a lift.

“This continued erosion of our public transport flies in the face of the Government’s claims to be creating a “Northern Powerhouse”. It limits opportunities for local residents in both their work and social lives.”