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London Editor
A senior Treasury minister has promised the Government will do "what we can" to help Westcountry families suffering from the highest water bills in the country.
During a visit to Cornwall, Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said he "understood" the impact of South West Water charges, which are more than £150 above the national average.
Mr Alexander, a Liberal Democrat MP, also defended the party's involvement in the coalition Government in the face of criticism over the speed of spending cuts and the three-fold increase in the cap on tuition fees.
It is thought the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs is soon to unveil a plan to help hard-pressed families in the Westcountry pay water charges.
But there are concerns the plan will only help a small proportion of the region, with insiders suggesting the Treasury has dragged its feet over a levy on water customers elsewhere in the country to help pay to keep the region's beaches clean.
Mr Alexander, MP for the Scottish Highlands, said: "I fully understand and sympathise with the fact that the higher water charges place pressure on particularly low-income families in this area.
"I have to say local Liberal Democrat MPs have left me in absolutely no doubt about the importance of this issue locally.
"It's important to stress that I understand that and we will seek to do what we can to address that against all the other difficulties we have in the economy."
Mr Alexander was in the region to promote National Apprenticeship Week, and claimed the South West could see 10,000 more apprenticeship places a year by 2015 in the wake of extra government funding for training.
He visited the Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, where apprenticeship schemes teach young people to build luxury yachts, and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall in Watergate Bay, near Newquay, which trains chefs.
He said: "(Apprenticeships) have been under-valued.
"We need to get to a situation where someone who is coming out with a highly-skilled apprenticeship is as valued as someone with a degree.
"That's the transformation we want to affect."
Senior Lib Dems have been criticised for the tie-up with the Conservatives.
Backbencher Adrian Sanders, MP for Torbay, claimed they are more concerned with pleasing the Tory "enemy" than the party's grassroots. On cuts to spending, he added: "We've had to take some immensely difficult decisions."
Cornwall news, Jobs, Sports, Cars, Homes | This is Cornwall
London Editor
A senior Treasury minister has promised the Government will do "what we can" to help Westcountry families suffering from the highest water bills in the country.
During a visit to Cornwall, Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said he "understood" the impact of South West Water charges, which are more than £150 above the national average.
Mr Alexander, a Liberal Democrat MP, also defended the party's involvement in the coalition Government in the face of criticism over the speed of spending cuts and the three-fold increase in the cap on tuition fees.
It is thought the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs is soon to unveil a plan to help hard-pressed families in the Westcountry pay water charges.
But there are concerns the plan will only help a small proportion of the region, with insiders suggesting the Treasury has dragged its feet over a levy on water customers elsewhere in the country to help pay to keep the region's beaches clean.
Mr Alexander, MP for the Scottish Highlands, said: "I fully understand and sympathise with the fact that the higher water charges place pressure on particularly low-income families in this area.
"I have to say local Liberal Democrat MPs have left me in absolutely no doubt about the importance of this issue locally.
"It's important to stress that I understand that and we will seek to do what we can to address that against all the other difficulties we have in the economy."
Mr Alexander was in the region to promote National Apprenticeship Week, and claimed the South West could see 10,000 more apprenticeship places a year by 2015 in the wake of extra government funding for training.
He visited the Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, where apprenticeship schemes teach young people to build luxury yachts, and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall in Watergate Bay, near Newquay, which trains chefs.
He said: "(Apprenticeships) have been under-valued.
"We need to get to a situation where someone who is coming out with a highly-skilled apprenticeship is as valued as someone with a degree.
"That's the transformation we want to affect."
Senior Lib Dems have been criticised for the tie-up with the Conservatives.
Backbencher Adrian Sanders, MP for Torbay, claimed they are more concerned with pleasing the Tory "enemy" than the party's grassroots. On cuts to spending, he added: "We've had to take some immensely difficult decisions."
Cornwall news, Jobs, Sports, Cars, Homes | This is Cornwall
