IN the world of government and public services there’s an iron law of diminishing returns. This means that once governments and local councils have dished out a benefit, it’s almost impossible to take it back again without a fight and potential electoral disaster. The first shots have been fired in a battle that hasn’t yet started – at least officially – over free bus passes for the over 60s. This is a massive issue in the local area because it’s a region dominated by tourism, with a very high proportion of older people.

For example, the scheme costs Bournemouth taxpayers over a million pounds annually and has caused a financial headache for Christchurch in the past two years.

Dame Joan Bakewell, Labour’s czar for the elderly, has warned of a “grey backlash” if ministers try to claw back free off-peak travel for the country’s eleven million pensioners.

The alarm has been raised because a study commissioned by the Local Government Association said this week that the system is costly to administer, benefited many people who don’t need help with travel and should be better targeted.

If the current government doesn’t grasp the nettle of means testing, the next one will have to. A whole raft of sacred cows are certain to be considered for slaughter in the near future to deal with the public spending crisis. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an ostrich living in cloud cuckoo land.