Contributions
283 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDWater BillI did hear the intervention, but I wanted to make some progress. Take this one example. Under this Bill, if a water company breaches the terms of its licence with a major sewage…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillMy apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker; I should have said that my hon. Friend made his point. The clock is ticking. The climate crisis is no longer a distant warning. It is our lived…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillOn the issue of water, yes, I would say they are, because whether I like it or not, Reform has a policy for water to be owned 50% by pension companies and 50% by the public. As…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillNo, I do not. We have a distorted electoral system. Bring on proportional representation, because if we had PR, we would have had a different Government in 2019 and most…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillI thank the right hon. Member for his point. I will come on to this later, and I hope other Members will pick up on it, but the fact that the public are way ahead of this House on…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillOne second. If scientists tell us the climate crisis is an existential threat to humanity and to this country, we must treat it as such: an existential conflict. In that context,…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillDoes my hon. Friend agree that the Government’s Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 could have instructed Ofwat to take a far more rigorous approach to the payment of bonuses? At…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillAt the beginning of my now seemingly rather long speech, I think I referred to a failure of imagination. Ask what Margaret Thatcher would have done when she was faced with similar…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillI will just make some progress, and then I will give way. I am on a roll. Let me tell the House where the money has not come from for these past 35 years. It has not come from…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillPeople talk about whether something can be taken out of public control and put back into privatisation. Of course, Parliament is sovereign and that can always happen, but there is…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillI beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Around 50 years ago, Margaret…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillI thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and I will be very brief. There is a crisis of democracy, and as my hon. Friend the Member for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff)…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillI will make some progress and then give way, and I will also try to keep the volume down a little bit. This is about the maintenance of a political and economic model that was…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillUnfortunately, I do not, because again the elephant in the room—who owns our water—has been ruled out of the Cunliffe commission’s operational process. It cannot actually look at…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillWith the leave of the House, I will not get back into a tit for tat over some of the comments that have been made at the Dispatch Box, because I would like to thank everyone who…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillIf I could sum up the hon. and learned Member’s argument, he seems to be telling the public, “You’ve never had it so good.” I think many members of the public would disagree with…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillI thank the hon. and learned Member for his contribution to the debate. Private water companies have invested less than nothing of their private equity in our water system since…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillThose are the reasons why I have brought forward this Bill. The Government’s Act does none of those things, but my Bill does. Take just one example—28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillI can now—for my next trick, I can hear thinking! I can hear them thinking, “But we have just passed the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, Clive, so what are you talking about?”…28 Mar 2025HANSARDWater BillThe cheapest borrowing in the country, without a doubt, is public sector borrowing. The private water industry, which has had 35 years to sort this mess out, is not going to find…28 Mar 2025