To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has had on plans for the privatisation of water and electricity in Wales.

I have received very few representations on either.

Does the Secretary of State recall from the answers that he has given to me in the past that 75 per cent. of bills paid by Welsh water rate payers are the result of direct Government policies? Does he not feel that Welsh people will not take to the prospect of being rooked by having their undertaking handed over at a bargain price to profiteers—and possibly French profiteers at that? Will he tell us how water is to be made competitive? Will we have a selection of taps so that we can pick the best buy—the loss leader of the day? Will we have three taps, one with hot water, one with cold water and one with Perrier water? Will we have compulsory metering?

Will the Secretary of State and the other Ministers perhaps interrupt for a moment their frenetic campaigns of self-promotion and self-publicity to speak out for the majority of the people of Wales, who see the proposed privatisation of water and electricity as wasteful, foolish and futile?

As I said in my original answer, I have received very few representations on either of those privatisations. Of the few that I have received, none have been so absurd as the one just made by the hon. Gentleman.

Presumably the Opposition are trying to show that they are better Socialists than Plaid Cymru.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the misgivings felt by many of us over the privatisation of water were largely allayed by the creation of the National Rivers Authority? Is he also aware that there remain some misgivings about whether what is proposed for the Central Electricity Generating Board in the privatisation of electricity will take care of the public interest in the same way?

I understand the anxiety that is felt along the lines suggested by my hon. Friend, but I hope that such matters will be dealt with when the final details are published.

Will the Secretary of State give us an assurance that when water is privatised supplies will not be cut off in any circumstances? I am sure he will agree that water is an essential commodity for life and that its non-supply would cause considerable hardship to the young, the elderly and the sick.

I am sure that water supplies will not be cut off in different circumstances from those in which they are cut off under the existing system.

Is my right hon. Friend able to say whether the horrible circumstances mentioned have arisen in those parts of the British Isles where for many years water undertakings have been run by private companies?

About 10 per cent. of our water comes from private companies, and as far as I know there have been no complaints.

Is the Secretary of State able to confirm any of the details that were given in recent press coverage about the privatisation of the electricity industry, in particular its impact on Wales, where the two area distribution boards have the characteristic of about 30 per cent. of their total sales going to two customers—Allied Steel and Wire and the British Steel Corporation in the case of the South Wales Electricity Board, and United Engineering Steels at Brymbo and Anglesey Aluminium in the case of the Merseyside and North Wales electricity board? Will he also confirm that until those area boards have a guarantee that those customers will not shop around, contrary to the Government's White Paper, they are virtually unsaleable in the view of the Government's investment advisers? Finally, will he confirm that in the case of both the water and the electricity industries the only way to solve these problems is to turn them, not into privatised companies, but into consumer co-operatives by giving the shares to all their customers, both industrial and domestic?

I am glad to say that their customers, unlike what happens under nationalisation, will be able to take advantage of such an opportunity and apply for shares. That may well happen, as it did with gas and other enterprises that we have privatised. The detailed proposals will eventually be announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy.