Of course, that quality does come at a price. Putting a fuse in every plug and mechanical shutters in every socket adds to costs, and the fact that only a handful of countries (mostly recent former British colonies) use it adds costs when making devices. If one wants to sell something across the EU which needs 220-240V of electricity, one is stuck having to provide two types of plugs (European and British; not counting variations if you need earth). And does the continent really have a much higher rate of deaths by electrocution which would justify these expenses?
Furthermore, the bulkiness of the British plug (which has no 2-pin variant; the third pin is needed to open the shutters) was fine when it was just used for electric kettles and the telly, but it fits rather uncomfortably in today's gadget bags. There have been proposals for folding variants, but they have not so far been realised.
In a sensible world, Britain would abandon BS1363 and harmonise with the European standards. Of course, if anyone suggested this, the tabloid newspapers would howl about traitors selling out ancient traditions to the despicable frogs and krauts and there'd be mass public outrage. There is a significant part of the British population who take pride in being symbolically different from Johnny Foreigner (i.e., those across the English Channel), and they write letters to papers and vote, and any politician or regulator not listening to them would have as much luck as an atheist running for governor of Texas.