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Water Act 2003 (Consequential and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2005

My Lords, before the Minister sits down, I wish to say that we favour competition, as he knows. The point that we were trying to raise and which was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, when we were going through the debate, was our concern that the Government’s system—not the competition—could jeopardise some smaller users. That was our particular concern, which is why I pursued it throughout. I note that the provision does not include domestic users, but smaller users and smaller businesses might find that their bills go up correspondingly. The challenge was to see whether the Government were convinced that the system that they have put in place is justified and will work well. I am grateful for the Minister’s clarification that if there are problems we will return to the matter. On Question, Motion agreed to.