Isles of Scilly: Helicopter Services

Lord Cameron of Dillington Excerpts

Wednesday 24th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cameron of Dillington]

My Lords, are the Government aware that the cost of transport to the Isles of Scilly is four times more expensive than that from the mainland to the Scottish islands over an equivalent distance? As a result, businesses and the tourist industry in the Scilly Isles are suffering badly and are in rapid decline when compared with those industries in the Scottish islands. The total absence of a ferry service, as already mentioned, between November and March means that running a business or even leading a normal life is becoming a pretty precarious enterprise in the Scilly Isles.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I have read carefully the report produced by the Council of the Isles of Scilly comparing transport services to the islands with those of Scotland. It is a well written report, but I would point out that the situation in Scotland is different because it involves much more complicated and wide-ranging services that cannot be operated on a commercial basis. At the moment, the service to the Isles of Scilly is operated on a commercial basis.