Water subsidy
Sir: As one of the millions of householders in the country, I have just received my bill for water and sewerage, and this shows a big increase on the previous bill. I now have in front of me a hand-out from my local water authority, which tells me that part of the increases on unmeasured water supplies is due to the £9,583,000 British National Water Council Equalisation Fund, which collects huge sums from some areas, to pay for others.
Upon further investigation, I find that the big 'pay out' areas are all the major population areas in England. London and the Thames area, for example, pays out £2,165,000, the North West, comprising Manchester and Lancashire, pays out £1,180,000, Birmingham and the English Midlands pays out £1,047,000, South Staf fordshire pays out £938,000, the South of England £745,000, Portsmouth area £556,000, Newcastle and Gateshead area £524,000, Yorkshire £375,000, and so on.
And where does this money go? The largest sum, the huge amount of £3,486,000, is not even in England at all, but is paid to subsidise the exchequer of the Welsh National Water Authority. So it is obvious that most of the population of England are paying far more than we should for our water in order to subsidise the people of Wales.
Why should it always be England that is sacrificed for Wales and Scotland? Huge unemployment has been created here in England, and especially among coloured people in the Inner City areas, to create jobs in Wales and Scotland, where they have no major coloured problem. Some areas, such as London, are not even allowed to adver tise for new factories. Now we are paying through the nose for our water so that the Welsh can get their water cheap. Am I alone in thinking it is high time all this Government manoeuvring penalising the people of England, and treating us as the perpetual mulch cow, was stopped?
Frank Hans ford-Miller 76 Lock Chase, Blackheath, London SE3
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