The Fight for the Isle of Wight campaign, which launched in March 2016 with the slogan ‘Six months to save the Island’, is on its way to Westminster today (Tuesday).
The campaign, which was spearheaded by the County Press with the support of the Isle of Wight council, called on the government to:
- Acknowledge the Island is a unique case and needs extra help
- Agree to change the way the Island is funded, in recognition of the unique challenges and costs we face as an Island community
- To give us [the Isle of Wight] more money
In January this year, prior to the launch of the campaign, Council leader, Jonathan Bacon, reported the government did recognise the Island is a unique case.
The IW contingent
Joining the County Press today are the leader of the Isle of Wight council, Jonathan Bacon, Kay Smith from Unite the Isle of Wight campaign group, representatives from Community Action Isle of Wight and the Women’s refuge, as well as one of the main signature gatherers.
Kay Smith, from Unite the Isle of Wight, told OnTheWight,
“From a Unite the IOW point of view the hardships and suffering caused to people and services on the Island is still going on.
“Our campaign will still continue because we want better for the people that live here.
“Collecting signatures for the Fight for the Wight campaign highlighted that suffering to us and we thank the County Press for helping to make it readers more aware of government funding cuts and the need to look at how we address that in the future.
“Please expect a full report and more thoughts from us on this in the coming days.”
Alan Marriott told OnTheWight,
“It was good to take the Fight for the Wight petition to the heart of government today, with people such as Sue Birch, Fiona Gwinnett, Mike Bulpitt and Kay Smith, who are either affected by, or deal with people affected by the cuts.
“It will be interesting to see what response we get from the Prime Minister to our call for a fairer deal for the Isle of Wight.”
Voted for the cuts
It’s understood that Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Andrew Turner, who voted for the cuts to the local government settlement, will also be in attendance today.
The cuts to the local government settlement earlier this year meant the Isle of Wight council were unable to deliver many discretionary services – some of which will, in the long-term, have a detrimental impact on statutory services. The Government have cut tens of millions from the council’s budget since 2010, with more to come before 2020.
Solent deal only option
When voting for the cuts in February, Andrew Turner said the minister would visit the Island to discuss the funding shortfall.
It was during that visit, that Greg Clarke, the then-minister responsible, told the IWC the only way the Island would get any extra money would be through the Solent Deal.
Will the government listen?
Just over 10,000 people signed the petition which will be presented to government today.
With the publication of the Government’s Autumn Budget Statement just over a week away – on 23 November 2016 – Islanders will be on tenterhooks waiting to hear whether the petition has any impact on a fairer settlement.
@Fight4theWight petition delivered to 10 Downing Street today. Now hope they listen! @iwcponline pic.twitter.com/HAHv94fY8h
— Alan Marriott (@IWCPAlan) November 15, 2016
Article updates
Comment from Kay Smith added 12.48pm. Tweet by CP editor added. Comment by CP editor added (19.09)
Sources:
CP launch Fight for the Wight campaign
Government Autumn Statement
Image: defenceimages under CC BY 2.0
