Call to give young carers a free bus pass to improve their life chances

The Liberal Democrats have passed new plans to help young carers, including giving them free bus passes.

The party's treasury spokesman, Sir Ed Davey, who was a carer for his mother before she died when he was 15, said: "You have to grow up early as a young carer.

"As we saw today, without adequate support, being a young carer can hurt your life chances. We must demand better."

The new policies include reforming the Carers Allowance so young people who undertake more than 21 hours a week of education can qualify for the allowance, and learning institutes and employers treating being a carer as a diversity issue.

Mr Davey added: "Carers devote much of their time and energy to selflessly looking after others. The additional burden on young carers of being in school without adequate support takes a toll on health and ambitions, so it is time to right the wrongs.

"The reality is that this Conservative Government simply hasn't done enough. However, Liberal Democrats are committed to providing the support needed so young carers have the resources and confidence to thrive."

Helping young people get cheaper fare on public transport has been a focus for the major parties.

More than 125,000 people have bought a 26-30 "millennial railcard" since they went on sale to all people in that age category on January 2.

Speaking in January, the then transport secretary Chris Grayling welcomed the introduction of the cards, saying they had cut fares for over 100,000 young adults on "millions of journeys, saving them millions of pounds".

Labour has said it wants to introduce free bus travel for under 25s to help young people save money.

A condition for scrapping the fares, however, would be that the local council in the area would need to either take bus services into public ownership or introduce a franchising system.

The SNP says it wants to continue to "explore options" to provide free bus travel for Modern Apprentices.