In his budget yesterday Chancellor George Osborne promised to "come forward with public money" to help lower the water bills of customers across the South West, "particularly those on lower incomes".
Cornish MP, George Eustice was delighted at the announcement saying, “I welcome the Chancellor’s commitment of public money to address the injustice of disproportionately high water charges in the South West. I and other MPs have campaigned for a long time on this issue; the last Government failed to deal with the problem, and so I am delighted that George Osborne has pledged a significant amount of money to redress the balance. This is a huge step forward”.
In a Westminster Hall debate a fortnight ago, Rural Affairs Minister, Richard Benyon, had affirmed that officials were "crunching the numbers" of a scheme proposed by George called the 'Fair Discount Scheme' aimed specifically at eliminating water poverty (where a household spend more than 3% of their income on water). This scheme would help around 70% of South West Water customers.
The West Briton reported on the good news this morning which you can read here, George was also interviewed by BBC Radio Cornwall on the Laurence Reed show today.