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Water Strategy

The hon. Lady is correct. It is interesting to note that although the Conservatives are well represented in the south-west, both in the area covered by South West Water and in the Government region, not a single one of those Members is here to comment on this issue. That is disappointing. My hon. Friend the Member for Truro and St. Austell spoke about long-term solutions. Obviously, the only permanent solution will be some kind of equalisation measure that spreads the burden more fairly. As the hon. Lady and my hon. Friend have said, the take-up of the vulnerable groups tariff is higher in the south-west than in any other part of the country; however, there are still plenty of people who could benefit from it but are not taking it up. As the average cost used to calculate the tariff is an average of South West Water bills, which are the highest, people on the tariff still face high bills. We need a permanent solution to the problem, and we must recognise that more could be done to support vulnerable groups. The use of a rising block tariff would spread the burden more fairly, but, ultimately, it would not get around the structural problem that has left South West Water bill payers in their current situation. We need to be explicit about the fact that a rising block tariff should recognise different groups, so there would not be a continuation of the current situation in which second-home owners benefit from the infrastructure that is provided to their doors, but pay the lowest bills because they are not there to use resources. Any tariff system would have to take that into account.