Prime Minister Andy Burnham has agreed to look at a proposal to regulate the prices of Isle of Wight ferries, it has been said in the House of Commons.
Speaking in the Commons for the first time as Prime Minister yesterday (Tuesday), having taken office as MPs went off on their summer recess in July, Andy Burnham was responding to a question by Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East, Joe Robertson.
Mr Robertson referred to the Prime Minister’s cost-of-living tour of the UK and said:
“Had [the Prime Minister] come to the Isle of Wight, he would have heard about our number one cost of living issue. And that is the price of travelling to and from the Isle of Wight. Astronomical, harming our tourism economy, restricting access to health and education.”
The East Wight MP then asked:
“If he stands by his comments around people, power and putting power back into communities, will he at least be open to creating regulatory powers so that we can control prices that are currently levied by private equity companies, put passengers first, and ensure that the Isle of Wight is treated fairly, just like every other community in the UK?”
The Prime Minister responded:
“Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, I think he should, he sounds like he could be speaking from these benches because I got a lot of jeers when I talked about public control earlier this afternoon. But that’s precisely what he’s calling for, and he’s right to do so. It enabled me to reduce bus fares in Greater Manchester.
Article continues below this advertisement “I don’t see why it wouldn’t enable him to reduce ferry fares. Bring me a proposal. That’s what I would say to the honourable gentleman. Bring me a proposal. I will look seriously at it, because I understand completely how critical that is to opportunity and growth both on the island and also on the mainland.”
Mr Robertson later posted on social media:
“We now need to do everything we can, working locally and nationally, cross-party, to ensure that the unique injustice of unfettered private equity control of access to our Island is a thing of the past.”
A series of monthly roundtable ferries meetings convened by the Department of Transport are due to start later this month.
