§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Prime Minister if she will consider proposals for the privatisation of the water industry.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Government would welcome new ideas on privatisation. However, the water authorities are natural monopolies for many of their functions and we need to be particularly careful when considering replacing a public monopoly by a private one. Because of the environmental and public health responsibilities, any proposal to privatise them would also raise issues of regulation. There are 30 private water companies which are concerned only with water supply and which are mainly regulated by statute.