Five water firms to raise bills after appeal
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/five-water-firms-raise-bills-after-appeal
A water bill from Southern WaterPLANS to allow water firms to increase bills yet again, despite decades of mismanagement and ongoing pollution, were condemned by campaigners today.
Five firms are set to raise charges by up to 5 per cent above the limits initially set by regulator Ofwat.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed that Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Wessex Water have been permitted to hike their tariffs following an appeal.
The firms argued that Ofwat’s original decision left them unable to meet the regulatory requirements set out for them.
It follows a ruling in December, in which Southern had already been allowed to increase bills by 53 per cent over the next five years.
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Kirstin Baker, who chaired the independent group of experts appointed by the CMA to consider the price controls, said that the request for significant bill increases were “largely unjustified.”
River Action CEO James Wallace said: “Once again, water bill payers are forced to shoulder the cost of decades of failure.
“Millions of households in England face higher bills while rivers continue to suffer from mismanagement by privatised water companies.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/five-water-firms-raise-bills-after-appeal
It hurt when I crashed my bike into a pothole – and it taught me the true price of austerity George Monbiot
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/crashed-bike-pothole-cost-cycling
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I was lucky. Last week, I was cycling downhill when I hit a pothole. The front wheel folded into an infinity symbol. I went over the handlebars and, with no time to put my hands out, landed on my face. My helmet and glasses took most of the impact. I emerged, remarkably, with just a few cuts and bruises.
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Austerity – which leaves our potholes, alongside many other gaps in public provision, unfilled – does not save money. On the contrary, it costs us a fortune. What the rich might save in taxes, the rest must pay over and over again.
False economies abound. For example, the government may at last be persuaded to remove the Tories’ vicious, Malthusian two-child benefit cap. But what many people have failed to grasp is that behind it stands another brick wall: the household benefits cap. If families now receive money for a third child, it could push them past the household limit, and they’ll be scarcely better off than before. This household cap has extreme and perverse consequences. It ensures that rents, even in the social sector, are almost everywhere unaffordable to the families affected, most of which are headed by lone parents. The result is that they are thrown into temporary accommodation, which local authorities must provide at far greater expense: roughly £2.3bn a year. Being forced into temporary accommodation also curtails adults’ employment opportunities and children’s performance at school, and generates great suffering, which can translate into physical and mental health problems, which of course means further economic impacts.
In 2019, a parliamentary committee called on the government to “conduct a full cost benefit analysis of the benefit cap”. The government rejected the call, but said it would explore the possibility in future. I checked with the Department for Work and Pensions – it still hasn’t happened.
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Household energy debt soars to £4.43 billion
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/household-energy-debt-soars-ps443-billion
HOUSEHOLD energy debt has soared to £4.43 billion, leaving hundreds of thousands trapped in arrears, new figures revealed today.
Figures from Ofgem show that energy debt has more than tripled since the end of 2020, when the figure stood at £1.45bn.
The regulator reported that there are currently 1,133,683 electricity customers and 926,545 gas customers in debt without any repayment arrangement in place.
The debt is leaving households facing up to an extra £145 a year on their bills to cover the collective shortfall.
End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “Energy debt is now driving people into dangerous financial positions as we approach the fifth winter of the energy bills crisis.
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A new analysis by think tank Common Wealth shows that 24 per cent of the average energy bill went towards pre-tax profits by the energy industry.
Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift, said: “Yet again while shareholders are celebrating rising prices and huge profits, people are facing stark choices of how to ration their energy.
“Only by supporting struggling households now, improving energy efficiency and getting us off expensive gas through homegrown renewable energy will ministers be able to get a grip on the situation.”
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/household-energy-debt-soars-ps443-billion
Keir Starmer told scrapping two-child cap on benefits should be ‘bare minimum’ in fight against poverty
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-told-scrapping-two-35965638
[Daily Record] EXCLUSIVE: SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.
The UK Labour Government has been challenged to go “much further” than scrapping the two-child cap on benefits if it wants to reduce number of kids living in poverty.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman has today written to Keir Starmer to insist getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.
It comes amid rising speculation the Prime Minister may use next week’s UK Labour conference in Liverpool to confirm the two-child cap will finally be ended.
Anti-poverty campaigners and charities have long warned the policy punishes larger families and pushes more youngsters into a life of poverty as a result.
The SNP Government has already commited to mitigating the impact of the welfare cap in Scotland from next March.
In her letter, Blackman said: “Independent analysis shows that if the UK government matched SNP action across the UK, it could lift 2.3million families out of poverty overnight, including a further 96,000 in Scotland.
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Article continues at https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-told-scrapping-two-35965638
