Contributions
1,006 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDBathing WatersThree weeks ago, the Secretary of State led Tory MPs through the voting lobby to vote down Labour’s Bill that would have finally ended the Tory sewage scandal by making polluters…25 May 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI will make some progress. Conservative MPs should see this as a second chance, which everyone deserves. Let us take our mind back to the first chance, which was the passage of…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeHonestly, I am staggered. I say that with respect to the Chair of the EFRA Committee. Our figures are based on the Government’s figures, and I am happy to put them in the House of…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage Dischargeindicated assent.25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeA lot of Members have put in to speak in the debate and they have a right to be heard, so I will bring my remarks to a close. This plan is the first step in Labour’s reform of the…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeThe hon. Gentleman can answer this question for his constituents: over the last 13 years, why has an average of £1.8 billion every year been taken in shareholder dividends and not…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI will come straight to the point: had the Conservative Government, in their 13 years in office, treated this issue with the importance that is needed and dealt with the water…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeThe hon. Gentleman is definitely currying favour with the Conservative Whips Office, and I give him credit for energetically reading out the Whips’ top lines— [ Interruption. ]…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI beg to move, That this House calls on the Government to set a target for the reduction of sewage discharges, to provide for financial penalties in relation to sewage discharges…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI have already given way once. Let me make some progress. Last week, Labour published analysis of Environment Agency and Top of the Poops data which showed that in 2022, Tory…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI will make some progress and take some interventions later— [ Interruption. ] Hang on; your moment will come. It goes to our leisure and beauty spots. Businesses rely on tourists…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeThank you, Mr Speaker—we’ve 12 months yet. I will take interventions once I have made progress on this section. Hon. Members should not worry; their opportunity to defend the last…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI welcome that intervention. I would also welcome an explanation to the hon. Lady’s constituents as to why there have been 200 sewage incidents in her own backyard. That is why…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI will make some progress. This is an environmental hazard, a health hazard and an economic hazard. The full scale of the billions of pounds that the Tory sewage scandal is…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI am very happy to look into that point. As a matter of course, we always ensure when visiting the constituents of Conservative MPs that as a matter of respect we inform the local…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeOne minute. That will mean that where a discharge station is not in place or is not working, the water companies will pay a standing charge, assuming that sewage is being…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI will take an intervention shortly from the Opposition Benches. Mr Speaker, do you know that raw human sewage is even being discharged moments away from these very Houses of…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI am not sure that was worth waiting for. The hon. Gentleman was so persistent that I thought a gem would come to advance the debate, but the House was left wanting, yet again. I…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeLet me make this point, because it ties in with following the money and tracking back to the impact. The storm overflow data, which water companies themselves provide to the…25 Apr 2023HANSARDWater Quality: Sewage DischargeI am not sure whether Parliament can do some sort of induction for Conservative Members on how Parliament works and where power sits, but the House of Commons Library is very good…25 Apr 2023