The Isle of Wight's ferry firms say they plan to meet with the Island's two MPs over reliability and cost concerns — but have stopped short of addressing calls for government regulation.

Wightlink has told the County Press it 'continues to deliver an exceptionally reliable service', while Red Funnel insists it is committed to providing a lifeline service to the Island.

Their comments come after the Island's MPs both individually met with government ministers in recent weeks.

Joe Robertson, IW East MP, and Richard Quigley, IW West MP, said they are putting party politics aside to tackle "increasing problems" with Island ferries.

Read more: Isle of Wight ferry disruption leads to MPs and government talks

The IW East MP (Conservative) sat down with transport secretary Louise Haigh and said she appears "genuinely receptive" to the idea of including cross-Solent operators in plans to nationalise the railways.

Over the past six months, the IW West MP (Labour) has also been in discussions with her and recently met with business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, too.

In response, Red Funnel and Wightlink both said they intend to meet with the newly-elected MPs.

Fran Collins, Red Funnel CEO, said: "I look forward to hearing back from them with dates."

Meanwhile, a Wightlink spokesperson said: "We look forward to meeting them and working closely with them.

"We have also written to Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh congratulating her on her appointment and inviting her to visit our ports and see our operations in action."

When asked for their thoughts on nationalisation and whether it was a realistic prospect, both firms stopped short of addressing the topic.

Fran Collins added: “Red Funnel has provided a lifeline service to the Island for more than 160 years, and is committed to doing so for the long-term future.”

A Wightlink spokesperson said: "Wightlink continues to deliver an exceptionally reliable and punctual service with more than 100 sailings every day.

"In June, our reliability was 99.9 per cent with punctuality at 93.7 per cent.

"On average, an Isle of Wight customer pays around £35 for a single crossing with a car (and seven passengers) and 70 per cent of Islanders travel with Wightlink using a discount. Our Multilink Pass vehicle prices start at £27.75 per sailing."