Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 28 March 2023.
I suppose, if you forgive me, First Minister, this is one leak, I think, that we would welcome, isn't it? But, of course, that's one of the three regulators that have been quoted. There is the Drinking Water Inspectorate, and it's Ofwat that will be publishing the formal response on Thursday. We await to see what those two other bodies—. But the point stands, of course, that we have three regulators here, which are answerable to the Secretary of State, making a decision, and hopefully they'll make the right decision, but it's not a decision made here in Wales. Now, Wales already exports 320 million litres a day of water to England from cwm Elan, and Welsh Water receives just £7 million from Severn Trent Water for that as part of an agreement they were obliged to accept in 1984. It's an agreement that will last for almost 100 years and possibly 100 years after that. The Welsh Government, the Minister has said, has no formal powers to change the terms of that agreement, but you are considering how trading agreements can be revised to better reflect current and future circumstances. What does that mean in practice, First Minister, to the price of water currently now being supplied from Wales to England?