THE government is to sell its last remaining shares in the privatised utilities to raise cash for fresh investment.
A Treasury spokesman said that only about 800,000 shares remain in government hands, in a number of companies including ScottishPower and Scottish & Southern Energy.
The Treasury also holds a batch of shares in United Utilities, the National Grid, nuclear generator British Energy, and regional water and sewerage utility Kelda Group - formerly Yorkshire Water.
The Treasury spokesman would not disclose the current market value of the holdings, but admitted it amounted to a ''relatively small sum''.
The move may be seen as a symbolic break with the past following Labour's ditching of Clause Four of its constitution and commitment to public ownership.
However, the cash generated by the government share sell-off will contribute a relatively insignificant proportion of the (pounds) 5bn a year the chancellor aims to raise by selling off surplus assets and land in the years until 2006.
Some (pounds) 4bn a year has been raised in this way since Labour came to power in 1997, he said yesterday.
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