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Water and Sewerage (South-west)

The Minister is absolutely right to say that the Walker report homed in on some of the issues in the south-west that cause the greatest problems for people on low incomes, but is water poverty not a national issue? Should the Government not consider it in the same way as fuel poverty? We would not expect fuel customers in the north-east to be responsible for their own winter fuel payments because it is colder up there. Surely, as a point of principle, we should not expect South West Water customers to pay for the fuel-poor; the burden should be spread nationally.