Parliament’s Water Bill keeps Scottish Water publicly owned

SNP MSP for the South of Scotland Dr Aileen McLeod commented on the passage of the Scottish Government’s Water Bill last night, stating that the Bill demonstrates the SNP Government’s commitment to keeping Scottish Water in public ownership and contrasting the situation in Scotland with spiralling water bills south of the border.

Dr McLeod commented:

“Last night’s passage of the Water Bill is a clear demonstration of the Scottish Government’s commitment to keeping Scottish Water in public ownership. Given how fundamentally important safe clean water is, that is a commitment I wholeheartedly support.

“It also demonstrates something else – a contrast between the Scottish approach to this vital utility and the privatisation that has taken place south of the border.

“In Scotland water bills are set to rise by less than inflation – 2.8%. In England they will increase by around 3.5%, higher than the official inflation rate. So not only is the Scottish approach protecting public ownership of a key strategic asset, that approach is costing the bill-payers in Scotland less than the privatised system in England.

“That fact is another demonstration of the SNP Government’s careful management of Scotland’s resources and its determination to continue to keep the pressure on household budgets as low as it can, within limited powers, in the current financial climate.”