Rebecca Smith MP, Member of Parliament for South West Devon, has urged the Labour Government to reconsider axing the £50 water bill rebate for South West Water users in an Oral Question to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed. Rebecca posed the question as a matter of fairness, reasoning that our region should not be overburdened with unaffordable water bills to keep a third of Britain’s bathing beaches clean.
Residents in the Southwest face the highest water bills in the UK - £150 above the national average. Other utility bills have also ballooned after the energy price cap was raised 10% and the Winter Fuel Payment was axed. The Government, which had previously pledged to cut energy bills by "up to £300", are instead raising them. This, Rebecca has warned, will only serve to widen the gulf between the Southwest and the rest of the UK where salaries sit £921 below the national average.
Member of Parliament for South West Devon Rebecca Smith asked:
In 2013, the previous Government introduced a rebate of £50 per household on the water bills of customers in the far Southwest. With 3% of the country’s population paying to keep a third of our bathing beaches clean on lower-than-average salaries, will the Secretary of State please reconsider the decision to scrap that rebate for constituents such as mine, which was quietly announced just before the recess?
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed responded:
It is important that support is targeted at the most vulnerable, so we will look at what more can be done through social tariffs to support families who are at risk of being unable to pay future water bills. It is right that we prioritise the poorest.
The Minister skirted around Rebecca’s question, instead referring to social tariffs. Customers are only eligible for social tariffs if they have a household income of less than £18,725, or if they are in receipt of certain benefits. While this support, which is already in place, is welcomed, it will do little to bridge the divide between water bills in the Southwest and the rest of the country.
This comes against the backdrop of a Budget which did not mention Southwest once. Rebecca has spoken out against this oversight, calling it “Labour’s forgotten region”. The rebate axe is just the latest episode, as Rebecca explains.
Reflecting on the Minister’s response, Rebecca Smith MP comments:
The Minister’s response says it all. Whether it’s the decision to withhold Derriford investment, snatching HS2 funding allocated for the Tavistock line, announcing the disastrous family farm tax or hiking the Southwest’s water bills, this Government is quickly developing a destructive pattern of behaviour in the Southwest. The Government’s blatant disregard for the needs of our region will not wash.
I wish to reiterate the need for the £50 water bill rebate to be reinstated. I’m not asking for any special favours, just that the cost to keep Britain’s prized beaches clean is fairly distributed.
