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Water Strategy

With a seaside constituency myself, I have great sympathy with the hon. Gentleman, and I greatly admire his consistent fight on the issue; he is right. However, the real failure is not privatisation, and it is not to do with looking back—although the detail could have been better. Nor is it the fact that the water companies and Ofwat, the regulator, allowed prices to increase. Prices had to increase to pay for pipes to be mended, for reinvestment, and for conserving and helping the environment. The real failure was not finding a viable alternative for unmetered users. I hope that he will get to grips with the specifics of what can be done, so that we can work together, across the House of Commons, with the Minister, who has this weekend been pushing on the matter, to find a solution.