Contributions
1,009 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Independent Water CommissionMy hon. Friend makes an important point: buck-passing should not be allowed to continue. We are moving to new regional structures that will bring together the regulators,…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI 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:…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionBy 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…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI agree with my hon. Friend; it is a shame that no Reform Members have turned up, although perhaps it is not surprising because they did not bother mentioning this issue in their…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI thank the hon. Gentleman—I think—for his comments, but it is disappointing that the shadow Secretary of State did not consider a matter of this urgency to be important enough…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionThe new ombudsman will have statutory powers to provide independent and free support to customers experiencing the kinds of failures that my hon. Friend describes; there are many…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI 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…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI know Battersea very well—it is a beautiful area—and I am aware of the problems with pollution. Of course, she knows all too well the concerns of her residents about escalating…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionThe target for reduction uses as its baseline the 2024 figure, not the 2021 figure used by the previous Government, recognising the extent to which sewage pollution increased…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionAs the right hon. Member correctly points out, Scotland has a nationalised water company—under the control of the SNP Government, of course—and water pollution is worse than in…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI 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…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI am afraid that the Green party’s proposals would mean paying £100 billion of taxpayers’ money to the owners of the water companies. That money would have to be taken away from…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI pay tribute to the young people of my hon. Friend’s constituency. Young people famously care about the environment, and they are devastated to see the scale of pollution in our…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI 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…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionWe have to take a rational, not ideological, approach to tackling this problem. Nationalising the water companies would cost £100 billion. Those are not figures, as I have seen my…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionThere 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…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionI completely agree with the hon. Member, who accurately pointed to the failures of both the SNP Government in Scotland and the nationalised model, which does not fix the problems.21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionMy hon. Friend makes an important point. In Sir Jon Cunliffe’s final report today, he makes recommendations for how customers can be put at the heart of the new model. There are…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionMy 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…21 Jul 2025HANSARD Independent Water CommissionThe state of the River Derwent is, alas, similar to many other rivers, lakes and seas up and down the country. That is why we are launching a water revolution today to completely…21 Jul 2025