Steve Reed MP: speeches

Speeches

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  A Trent tan is a very alarming and graphic image, but it captures what has gone wrong with our water sector for so long. The changes that we are announcing today will clean up our waterways across the country so that wild swimmers, as well as many other people who like to enjoy our precious rivers, lakes and seas, can get on and enjoy them without the kind of concern she alludes to.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a very good point. I believe that one of the reasons why the relationship between Ofwat and the water companies became far too cosy is the instruction that Ofwat received from Ministers in the previous Government to apply only light-touch regulation, when what was needed was a firm grip on what was going on. It is astonishing that the Conservatives thought it was a good idea to strip out resources and tell the regulator to go soft on the companies given the abuses that were taking place. That has ended now, and we are moving to a model of effective regulation that will protect bill payers and clean up our rivers.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and it was indeed a pleasure to visit Bury St Edmunds—he is very lucky to represent such a beautiful part of the country. In becoming a citizen scientist, he has joined a very proud movement, and I am sure that he will make an important contribution to its work.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  We always want to support those on lower incomes and those who may be experiencing water poverty; nobody should be worried about their water bill because their income is too low. Social tariffs already exist in every region. We will be consulting on the proposal for a national social tariff, which the Independent Water Commission has proposed in its final report.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I was, of course, on the television show in question with the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage). I think he told us six times that he had no idea—well, that much we knew. It is this Government who have a plan to clean up our waterways. We have put in place the building blocks for change, and that allows me to stand before this House and commit that by 2030 we will reduce sewage pollution from water companies by 50% as we move towards a decade of national renewal in order to clean up our waterways for good.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I agree with the right hon. Member on one point—that we should be cracking down on tax avoidance; it is always worth looking into that. On his earlier point, I am much more interested in the purity of our water than the purity of our ideology. The figure of £100 billion as the cost of buying out the water companies if any Government wanted to nationalise them was provided by officials in my Department with no external influence on them. This country cannot afford it, and we also cannot afford the worsening of sewage in our waterways during the years it would take to unpick the current model of ownership.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I am happy to give my hon. Friend that reassurance. The changes we are bringing about through this water revolution will reduce levels of pollution in chalk streams, and they will also reduce the need for abstractions from those chalk streams, which has been one of the most damaging features causing such distress to residents of his constituency, across Hertfordshire, and of other parts of the country.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  By monitoring every single outlet and making that visible to people across the country—campaigners and residents—we will open up the system with far greater transparency than has previously been the case.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to point out that the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), by his own admission, has “no idea” and no clue about this issue. My hon. Friend is also right that the proposals are detailed. Sir Jon provided a 450-page report with 88 separate recommendations that we will consult on. When we implement a final version, it will be the biggest overhaul to our water sector in more than a generation. We will reset it from top to bottom, so we have a water sector that works on the side of customers, the environment and investors, rather than the serial failure that we witnessed under the previous Government.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  Of course, social tariffs already exist within the individual water companies—Sir Jon has made recommendations about that. We will consult on that later in the year and then take decisions as we bring forward legislation in the new year.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. We had an example earlier of the complacency with which the SNP treats these kinds of issues. There is only one chance now in Scotland for a reset: the election of a Scottish Labour Government in Holyrood to work to clean up pollution from our rivers, lakes and seas, as we are doing.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an important point, because of course water infrastructure is critical for housing development, economic development and economic growth in every single region of the country. Today I have accepted in principle one of Sir Jon’s recommendations that will allow us for the first time to align water infrastructure investment and spatial planning, so that those homes and factories can be built faster for the benefit of local people.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I think my hon. Friend has already done the job for me.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  Well, the answer to that question is very quick: yes, it does.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I support what the hon. Gentleman says about the Environment Act, which is a worthwhile piece of legislation passed by the previous Government. I also support what he says about ensuring that people have more involvement at community level. I will certainly take that on board as we work through the consultation.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I hope that the hon. Member will be reassured by the fact that I have ringfenced customers’ money so that it can no longer be diverted for payment of bonuses and dividends, as was commonplace under the previous Government. It will be spent only on what it was intended for, which is investing in better water infrastructure. If that does not happen, it will be refunded to customers.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I would be more than happy to write to the right hon. Member with the details he is asking for, but as I have said earlier, we are also speeding up the planning process and treating reservoirs as nationally significant infrastructure, meaning that I, as the Secretary of State, will take the consenting decision so that we can do this in months rather than the years or even decades it has been taking up till now.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a vocal champion for his constituents. He is quite right to demand more compensation when outages happen, and an ombudsman. That is what the Government will provide, so that we can give better support to customers who are let down by the water companies. We are on the side of bill payers and the environment; the previous Government were on the side of neither.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. Anglers are quite rightly furious about the level of pollution, which is destroying fish and other life in our rivers, but also about the impact of abstractions, particularly from chalk streams, so the new regulator will be engaging with them. Sir Jon has proposed new mechanisms for volunteers and campaigners to engage with the system that were not available previously. We will consult on those in the autumn, and move ahead with legislation following that.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I was slightly confused by that question, if I am honest. My hon. Friend is very brave to go swimming in the North sea, but I know that many people enjoy that. The changes that we are making will bring about effective regulation and appropriate levels of investment and protect customers from the shocking bill hikes that we saw last year, which were the direct result of 14 years of failure by the Conservative Government. I am sure my hon. Friend’s constituents will welcome that.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I agree: it is important that these changes are brought in as quickly as possible. The state of our water sector, given the levels of pollution in our waterways and the unacceptable bill hikes that customers experienced last year, is a national scandal. We cannot allow things to continue. We will move at the greatest possible speed, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will hold our feet to the fire.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  Our target for sewage reduction is the most ambitious target put forward by any Government in our country’s history, and I am very proud of that. It is an important stepping-stone to restoring our rivers, lakes and seas to the good health and purity that many of us will remember from when we were younger.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  There is a system in place for when licences are breached; it is called special administration. The reason we are strengthening regulation and changing the regulator is so that we can prevent such failures. The £104 billion that we secured at the end of last year will help to upgrade pipes, so that we can reduce the amount of water leaking out of the system, and pay to build and dig out the new reservoirs to catch the rain, so that there is a supply of water in the drier periods.

• 19 Jun 2025 · River Pollution · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will be aware that we inherited record levels of sewage pollution in our waterways from the previous Government. Since the election, we have launched the biggest crackdown on water pollution in history: unfair bonuses have been banned for water company executives, and water bosses who cover up pollution crimes now face up to two years in prison. We will also invest a record £104 billion of private funding to upgrade crumbling sewage pipes and reduce discharges by nearly 50% within five years.

• 19 Jun 2025 · River Pollution · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and I understand her concerns. I reassure her that the Government will always act in the national interest on these issues. Thames Water must meet its statutory and regulatory obligations to its customers and to the environment—it is only right that the company is subject to the same consequences as any other water company. The company remains financially stable, but we have stepped up our preparations and stand ready for all eventualities, as I have said before, including a special administration regime, if that were to become necessary.