TBH, like most things in middle-England, our electrical standards are harking back to the post-war period when safety was new and exciting, and copper was in short supply. Hence the abomination that is ring mains.
There's a weird paranoia about electricity in bathrooms, given that you're allowed to have sockets powering kettles and things within splash range of a kitchen sink. Okay, you could argue a connection to ground through soggy bare feet is more likely in a bathroom, but have they never seen what drunk or caffeine-deficient people get up to in the kitchen?
Seriously, mandate an RCD and proper equipotential bonding, put it out of reach of the bath and get on with it.