From the Island Echo yesterday:
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said in the House of Commons this lunchtime (Wednesday) that ferry services to and from the Isle of Wight have ‘not been good enough’, and promises that the Maritime Minister will hold further meetings with Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel. Joe Robertson, MP for Isle of Wight East, stood up during today’s Prime Minister’s Questions to ask whether or not the Government agrees that the anomaly surrounding Isle of Wight cross-Solent travel must come to an end. In his address, Mr Robertson said: “My constituents on the Isle of Wight are entirely reliant on foreign-owned, debt-laden and unregulated ferry companies for essential travel. But in the United Kingdom public transport is regulated and subsidized.”
https://www.islandecho.co.uk/starmer-says-isle-of-wight-ferries-have-simply-not-been-good-enough/
Is this new?
Well, TuS has been using Isle of Wight Ferries stories to delight, perhaps weary, readers for years.
From August 2024:
English islanders shocked to find SNP Government-subsidised and even longer ferry crossing costs a fraction – one seventh – of their regular to the Isle of Wight. Thousands plan to move.
In the Daily Mail:
Furious Isle of Wight locals have accused ferry companies of holding them to ransom and say they can’t wait to move after being charged £440 for a return ticket to the mainland.
Islanders say they cannot afford to cross the Channel due to soaring costs and unreliable services.
‘Ridiculous’ ferry prices, cancellations, and delays are blighting their lives with some now wishing they had never moved to the island who say it is making them feel ‘completely cut off from society’.
The longest Isle of Wight crossing is 10 miles. Ardrossan to Arran is 17.3 miles.
A return trip from Ardrossan to the frankly far more beautiful island of Arran leaving tomorrow and returning next Friday costs [28 January 2025] £64.80.
The shorter Southampton to Isle of Wight crossing, in high season, costs SEVEN times as much!
One of the two ferry companies, Wightlink, paid £8 million in dividends to its shareholders in 2022.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
… but , as any Unionist politician and commentator will tell you , EVERYTHING in Scotland under the SNP is SH*T !
Imagine the moans from the many ungrateful subsidised Arran if CalMac they were faced with the ”commercial” fares which Isle of Wight residents pay .
LikeLiked by 3 people
…subsidised Arran Islanders …
LikeLike
doh ! Can’t think or type straight …
LikeLike
Subsidised? You mean just simply cheaper fares due to the SNP not ripping people off like the EngGov does. We know EVERYTHING in SCOTLAND is much BETTER and that the SNP, compared to the ‘unionists’ ‘politicians’ are a million miles apart in terms of policies!.
LikeLike
Bloody SNP, doing things better again, & even worse they’re doing it deliberately!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yep, should be in quotes ”, saying as the Britnat guy was it Foules I mean Foulkes said that for all to hear and see, amazing when you think about it. Should have been on every BritNat rags’ front page at the time…
LikeLike
I’m quite sure ‘not been good enough’ from ‘Am all wight’ Starmer will have theatrically horrified managers and shareholders alike after all the rehearsals…
By far the greater problem for the travelling public is politicians more interested in ‘right hand down a bit’ on the radio than actually improving quality of life for the general public, aka the riff-raff.
The licence to extract money on false premise began in the mother-f…..r of all parliaments, and that is not about to ‘Change’ under the latest ‘Bleader’ of the Labour Party….
LikeLiked by 1 person