COST OF CROSS-SOLENT TRAVEL ‘NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED’ SAYS TORY LEADERSHIP HOPEFUL
“The cost of getting back and forth between the Island and the mainland is something that needs to be addressed and that is something I would do if I was Prime Minister” – that’s the message from Conservative Party leadership hopeful James Cleverly following his visit to the Isle of Wight earlier this week.
During a visit to the Island on Tuesday (13th August), Island Echo sat down to speak to Mr Cleverly – alongside Isle of Wight East MP Joe Robertson.
James praised the ‘effortless’ journey from London Waterloo and then the subsequent Hovertravel crossing. Mr Cleverly also admitted that he had used cross-Solent travel a fair amount due to family ties on the Island, adding that he holidayed in Seaview with his family, just a few years ago.
The Member of Parliament for Braintree visited Yelf’s Hotel in Ryde on Tuesday afternoon before speaking to Conservative Party Members at Brading’s Wight Knuckle Brewery, where he explained his visions for the future of not just the Conservative Party, but for the United Kingdom as a whole.
The Conservative MPs also visited Wight Shipyard in East Cowes and The Codfather in Ryde.
Speaking to Island Echo, James said:
“It is key when you live on an Island that the connectivity with the mainland is extremely important.
“The tourist industry is very important for the Island, but even if you’re not involved in tourism, the cost of crossing the sea adds extra cost to everything that you do. We need to recognise that all communities in the UK are not hampered.
“If you are getting it right in Government you need to serve all of the communities irrespective of their geography and when there is something that has been a long-standing frustration such as the cost and increased cost of getting back and forwards between the Island and the mainland, that’s something that needs to be addressed and I’m absolutely sure that – if am Prime Minister – it is something that I would do, for not just the Island but for isolated rural communities across the country.”
