The new MP for Isle of Wight East, Joe Robertson, has written to the Secretary of State for Transport this week requesting action on cross-Solent ferries.
Joe Robertson was elected to Parliament on 4th July pledging to deal with ferries by seeking Government intervention. He set about raising the issue in his first television appearance on Politics South with Peter Henley 3 days later.
Now, Mr Robertson is engaging directly with the Government by asking Secretary of State, Louise Haigh MP, to intervene. The MP’s letter says that:
“Ticket prices are expensive, at times extortionate, and the services are increasingly unreliable. The timetables have been thinned down over the years so that crossings are less regular. “Having grown up on the Island, I have seen for myself how the services have got worse over the last 30 years while the various corporate owners of the ferry companies have loaded them with debt.”
The letter goes on to say;:
“It is now obvious the only way of addressing the very considerable problems we face is through government intervention. The companies have a primary obligation to maximise profit for their shareholders and will not bring about the change that we need by themselves. “In any case, it should be obvious that a lifeline service connecting an island population of over 140,000 people cannot be left to an unchecked, unregulated free market. We have over three decades of evidence that it is unfair and it does not work.”
Mr Robertson concludes by referring to the Government’s intention to nationalise the train network as set out in the King’s Speech on 17th July. He says that the intended legislation presents a ‘perfect opportunity’ to introduce a formal role for Government in the way Isle of Wight ferries are operated. Joe has requested a meeting with the Minister, together with Richard Quigley, MP for Isle of Wight West, to discuss how to best move forward. 
I think the biggest ‘grudge’ against the Ferries is when they say shortage of essential staff, this is I would think down to cost cutting and lack of training staff to cover more than one role, a bit of multi tasking.
Breakdowns and mechanical failures are hard to predict and quite often out any bodies control.
I know things have progressed over the years as we used to quite often get delays due to fog and such like, sometimes sitting at the end of Lymington River or just off Portsmouth for hours waiting for it to clear.
Another reason why regulation is a waste of time, as it won’t stop fog, high winds etc. You won’t have any of these problems with a fixed link
Radar, it was invented before WWll and has progressed tremendously since. Fog is not an issue, it’s a pathetic excuse.
Nice one Joe, now if you could prevent the illegals arriving and send back all those illegally here, perhaps by teaming up with Reform to have a new party, CONFORM, the country might stand a hope to pull ourselves from the brink. Fear it will never happen though as Con’s have had years to address the issue.
Well, that was worth writing, wasn’t it? Bless
Well done Joe.
Now please address the speeding problems on our roads,
there seems to be NO LAW AND ORDER on Island Roads.
Safety measures to STOP motorists speeding is the
answer, speed humps etc and more speed Camera’s
would also help.
Keep up the good work.
Must be nice talking to yourself by commenting on your own post with an alias because nobody else has time for Deform Wingers ?,goes with your whole multitude of other aliases ….there are tablets for that sort of problem you know!?
Only an Idiot would vote Reform
Conservative is the only answer.
You must be one of those old miseries that drive along at 20 in a 50 or 60 limit. Your just as dangerous and more likely to cause an accident.
David speeding kills innocent people.
I would lock up all speeding motorists,
and throw away the key.
20mph is plenty
Come on IW COUNCIL do something about speeding on this
small island
Sadiq Khan controls speeding in London
Ferry Fares are scandalous, about time something is done.
It is such a short crossing for what the Ferry Companies charge.
I can fly miles for less
Should have been countersigned by Quigley or duplicated by him
Quigley has already done this, Joe is some days behind
Good start,but you needed to omit the bit about seeley “shining a light” on cross solent transport
because he didnt,he only raised it to try to look like he was doing something as there was an election coming up,and quite rightly,got booted because he was useless,the spotlight is on YOU and quigley now,this need’s pursuing relentlessly.
lets see you both back up your promises to hold the ferry companies to account
or is it just voter appeasement for a few months,and hope we forget about it?
We have heard that story before.!!@
Well done.
Shame you are not MP for the whole island, though the whole island will maybe benefit anyway.
ha ha ha ha – you want government to step in, then the taxpayer will be ponying up for services to be operated that don’t generate a profit and the islanders will end up with a ferry tax to pay back the government support.
Don’t forget – the reason the ferries stopped running some services is because none of the islanders were bothering to use them – you want them to incur extra costs to run services, just in case, then you can expect to pay for them one way or another.
Public service obligations imposed by the state, come with a hefty price tag of cash to the ferry operators from the taxpayer
That is already happening except the money goes to foreign investment companies
so now the CONservatives are expecting the Labour party to intervene,.. when they (just a few months ago, whilst still in power) point blank refused to do so
I am glad that his request for a meeting with the Secretary of State includes Richard Quigley. This is a very important issue to residents and those who are involved with the tourism industry too. There is no value in diluting the case with party politics – a concerted appraoch is needed. Since both are new MPs they would set a marvellous precedent if they could achieve a good result through cross party co-operation.
Go Babies Go! Richard & Jo Go!!
No that’s not the only way. You need to ask the government to fund the rest of the fixed link viability study too, because you won’t stop all the delays and cancellations otherwise. Everything should be looked at, not just pointless regulation
Read about the fixed link that goes to The isle of Skye. They built the bridge but never upgraded the roads infrastructure. The roads are now chock a block in the summer months. It’s been a disaster for them and it will be a disaster for the isle of wight. If you don’t like it move back to the mainland.
Let’s hope something finally gets done about the
Ferry Companies.
Great letter Joe.
You have my vote next time.
“You have my vote next time.”
What? just for writing a letter,… (even Pop-up Bob did that)
he’s not actually made anything happen…
& even if something does happen (I hope it does),.. it’ll be a Labour government that makes it happen, ‘cos the CONservative government actively refused to do anything…
He writes ONE letter,and he gets your vote?
wow,you are easily swayed arent you
remember,tories lie!
Great to see our two new MP’s are maintaining pressure on a new Government with hopefully a fairer approach to the monopoly that the two ferry companies have been abusing for too long
It is NOT a monopoly. A monopoly is when you only have ONE option!
there is onle ONE option,… a bloody expensive, unrelaible ferry (doesn’t matter whether it’s wightlink or red funnel.. the option is the same)
Since there are at least four operators (RFS, WL, Hover and Blue Funnel – which is also Red Funnel) it’s not technically a monopoly. It might be a cartel, but that way litigation for libel lies.
Go Joe. Why don’t you write a strongly worded letter to someone? Hang on. Didn’t Bob Half Sausage already do that? Deja vu. Still, I’m sure it’ll make all the difference this time too.
Maybe wightlink and red funnel should just pull their service, and do business else where. Problem solved.
Well said Sarah – i note that the whining about rail fares on the mainland doesn’t get anywhere – an annual season ticket for portsmouth to waterloo via three bridges, is showing at over £7000.
the cost of a day return on the ferry for a foot passenger is about £20 – most of those whining don’t think twice about spending that on four beers in the pub
If you go to the newly opened albion in freshwater bay,thats not even 3 beers!
rip off.
A bit extreme and not likely to happen, although to be fair, it seems as if Red Funnel have pulled their service, so bad is it. I stopped using them 4 or 5 years ago mainly because it took almost an hour to get out of the marshalling yard. They pledged to build a new terminal, but they lied. I have a multi-link book of tickets with Wightlink which works out at about £60 per return with car & 5 passengers. The moaners could do the same, but prefer not to, opting instead for being the hangdog victim of profiteering. Robertson would be better employed sorting out Island Toads.
Went up to London yesterday ( sun 22nd July ) Returned to Southampton on the 15.35 which arrives at Southampton at 17.01. the quay connect bus leaves at 17.00 for the 17.20 red jet. Totally bonkers
Plenty of other trains arrive before yours as well though?
Well done Joe I think that is a very valid letter outlining some decent objectives I have great faith in you Thankyou x
I like the way a CONservative MP is expecting the Labour government to do something about it,.. when the party he stood for and was elected as part of, absolutely refused to do so…
Why did you stand for the Tories Joe ?? you obviously seem to prefer Labour Party policies..
Look up the word brainwashed
I’m not holding my breath. The next election will be upon us before government has a serious meeting about the issue. In the meantime I don’t doubt there will be plenty of hot air just thinking about it.
I’ve noticed over the last two years a big change in the amount of visitors over here.
I think this year’s tourism figures are going to be shocking and there is one major reason which is the ferry costs but also that some areas are very run down. (Sandown) Great beaches next door to Arson central.
Council need to be proactive aswell as the MP’s or in 5 years time you’ll have a lot of boarded up hotels and holiday parks and in turn small businesses going to the wall.
I live on a major road which you see a lot of queuing at traffic lights, not this year.
Tory boy. The most impotent MP the IOW has ever had the misfortune to have. Nothing he can do will make any difference at all. Idiots voted this useless person into minimal power, now prepare to have idiotic decisions and actions made on your behalf.