In a damning report issued yesterday, Alan Sutherland, the water industry regulator for Scotland, said household water and sewerage bills last year were 60 per cent higher than they would have been if the three former Scottish water authorities had been as efficient as their England and Welsh counterparts.But why is this?
John Scott, the Scottish Tory environmental spokesman, said it came as no surprise that charges in England were substantially cheaper than in Scotland.In other words, the English "counterparts" are capitalist organisations owned by profit-seeking shareholders whereas we Scots benefit from publicly (sic) owned water bodies who charge us 60% more than is necessary. Isn't socialism wonderful?He believed the benefits of competition had helped to drive down prices for English consumers.