A NEW left party in Scotland is questioning the reasoning behind the Scottish government’s recent decision to award a major part of its water supply to a dodgy private firm.

Respect Independence Socialism Environmentalism (Rise) has produced a document arguing that EU procurement laws did not require the Scottish government to hand the contract over to Anglian Water, as ministers claimed.

The report concludes that EU legislation does not force the Scottish government to make procurement decisions on cost grounds alone, and that social and environmental factors can be taken into account.