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Water Strategy

If the cost were spread across the country the implication for water bills would be extremely small and the benefit for people in the south-west would be extremely large. When the Conservatives privatised water they promised that what I have been talking about would not happen. They said that they had put enough money in the pot from privatisation receipts to pay for the clean-up. That was a national receipt, which, it was implied, was a contribution from around the country. The Conservatives got it wrong: they calculated the money wrongly. They landed South West Water customers with higher charges and lost most of their seats in the south-west as a result. I think that the hon. Lady should apologise for the Conservative record, rather than complaining that someone is trying to get something done about it. Had they done something, they would have more seats now. There are various routes by which what I suggest could be done. One would be to make the benefits system responsive to the cost of water bills, as it is to other charges, such as council tax in particular, which people pay differentially in different parts of the country, so that people in high council tax areas get more benefit. No one complains about that principle and I do not think that the hon. Lady wants to change it. I see no reason why the same principle should not apply in the case that I am talking about. However, I also want to talk about ways of mitigating the cost, which would reduce the impact on everyone.