Steve Reed MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 13 Oct 2025 · New Social Housing: Rural Towns and Villages · Hansard source

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  I certainly recognise the problem that the hon. Member describes; it is an issue in North Cornwall and right across the country. On the developer contribution, we are looking at how we can strengthen enforcement, so that where commitments are made, they are delivered on, and local communities are not stranded and left high and dry because the vital infrastructure to support the homes never appears.

• 13 Oct 2025 · New Social Housing: Rural Towns and Villages · Hansard source

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  The £39 billion social and affordable homes programme will support a wide range of social and affordable housing, including council housing, supported housing, community-led housing and, of course, rural housing. The Government will also consider how planning policy can better promote rural affordable housing through our work on national policies, which will be brought forward for decision making later in the year.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Water Company Executives: Accountability · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a great champion for her constituents in east London, on this matter as on many others. With her support, this Government have secured a record £104 billion to upgrade crumbling pipes and build sewage treatment works across the country, so that we can cut sewage pollution. We have also ringfenced customers’ money, so that it can never again be diverted away from investment to pay for bonuses and dividends while sewage pollution got worse. That, of course, includes in the Lea valley.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Water Company Executives: Accountability · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman raises an important point, which has been raised in the House before. That scheme was put in place and relates to years when the Conservative party was in government. That scheme would not be allowed today.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Water Company Executives: Accountability · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on raising that important issue, and I agree with the points he makes. The SNP Government in Scotland should be taking a much tougher line against such situations, as it is not acceptable. Levels of pollution in England are bad enough, but under the SNP in Scotland they are even worse, and the SNP Government should be fully ashamed— [ Interruption. ]

• 4 Sept 2025 · Water Company Executives: Accountability · Hansard source

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  The previous Conservative Government quite disgracefully let water bosses awards themselves more than £112 million in bonuses that they did not deserve. This Government are putting a stop to that. We have banned the payment of unfair bonuses and brought in new jail sentences for pollution offences. The Tory era of profiting from pollution is over.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Water Company Executives: Accountability · Hansard source

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  As my hon. Friend rightly says, that payment has outraged customers, and I have asked Ofwat to assess its legality as a matter of urgency. I will not tolerate any company attempting to circumvent this Government’s ban on unfair bonuses through exorbitant salary increases, secret bonuses, payments through parent companies, or any other deception. If Ofwat finds that the rules have been broken, companies will face sanctions, including fines imposed at a level that will deter future abuses.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Household Water Bills · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is showing why the problem persists—if the SNP does not recognise the problem, there is no way that it can fix it. I have published the data and I stand by it: pollution under the SNP in Scotland is even worse than it was under the Tories in England. He should be thoroughly ashamed of what he is doing to the beautiful countryside of the country that he represents.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Household Water Bills · Hansard source

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  Customers were hit with outrageous bill increases last year as a direct result of the previous Government’s failure to ensure that water and sewage pipes were properly maintained over the long term. They deliberately imposed a light-touch approach to regulation that let the system crumble, while investment funding was diverted to line water bosses’ pockets, leaving customers to pay the price. Our powerful new regulator will get a grip on the sector and ensure the regular maintenance of pipes, so that hard-working British families are never again left to pay the price of under-investment and weak regulation.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Household Water Bills · Hansard source

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  The reason that Thames is in the state that it is in is the weak, so-called “light-touch” regulation that the Conservatives imposed on the water companies when they should have been getting a grip. The point beyond that that the hon. Gentleman makes is a sensible one, however, and our reforms to water regulation and indeed to the regulator are intended to ensure that such problems cannot happen again. In the case of Thames, we are of course keeping a very close eye on what is going on with that company. At the moment, it remains viable, but we are ready for all eventualities, should they occur.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Household Water Bills · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to advocate so strongly for his constituents in Derby at a time when they are experiencing the cost of living crisis, as others are. I thank him for his support in blocking the unfair, multimillion-pound bonuses that were previously paid to water bosses. By ensuring that customers’ money is spent on upgrading the water system, rather than allowing it to be diverted to bonuses and dividends, he is helping to ensure that the bill hikes that resulted from Tory failure will never happen again.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As we have heard, this summer has seen wildfires burning across our countryside. I add my thanks to the emergency services, who were out in force to battle those fires, but so too were farmers, gamekeepers and local volunteers who gave up their time and resources to control the fires and help put them out. I pay tribute to all of them for their selfless bravery and community spirit. The fires came at the end of a long period of drought. Visiting farms this week and earlier in the summer, I saw for myself how food production has been affected. It is clear that further work is required to support farmers to build on-farm reservoirs and irrigation systems that can sustain their businesses through dry periods, and I have invited the NFU to work with me on that. I want to use this opportunity, though, to thank farmers for the outstanding work that they do to feed our country through thick and thin.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am always happy to meet farmers. That is why I have visited two farms already this week and sat down with a group of six farmers to talk about their concerns. I am more than happy to make sure that the people the hon. Gentleman has visiting get an appropriate meeting to discuss their concerns.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  First, may I welcome the shadow Secretary of State back to the Chamber? It was disappointing that she did not bother to turn up for the water statement; I can only assume that she does not care much about the pollution that her party is responsible for across the country. When it comes to farming, we are working with the farming sector on a road map to bring it back to profitability. That is the route to ensure that those businesses remain financially viable and successful into the future. It was her Government who left so many farmers on the brink of bankruptcy, so it takes only small problems to push them over the edge. Some 12,000 farms closed under the previous Government. We are working with the sector to make it profitable for the future.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Well, I was not far away a couple of weeks ago—I was down in Lewes. I congratulate my hon. Friend on being such a powerful campaigner on issues relating to sewage in his constituency. He tells me that he has brought together a group of campaigners. I would be delighted to meet him and them to see some of the problems and talk about how we can start to fix the appalling problems with pollution that the Conservative party has landed us with.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The causes of food price inflation include rising global energy prices, extreme weather events that have been affecting harvests, as we have already heard, and global supply chain problems, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Those things are affecting food prices right across the country. As part of the road map, we are working with farmers to ensure more supply chain fairness, so that the producer of origin gets a fairer share of the money that is made through the system for the food that they grow. That is the best way in which we can support farms to get their fair share of the revenue that comes in for the food they produce.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an important and timely point. Through the floods resilience taskforce, we are looking at how we can update the modelling to make sure that all areas that need protection will get the investment to do it, because far too many communities are exposed to the dangers of flooding. That is why we are investing £4.2 billion between 2026 and 2029 to protect our communities and better maintain our flood defences in England.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Dorset Coast: Pollution · Hansard source

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  I have enjoyed visiting Milton Abbas on many very happy occasions. I agree with the point that the hon. Gentleman makes. We are working with farmers and landowners to ensure that they are getting the support they need to take the kind of action that he talks about. The new regional tier proposed by Sir Jon Cunliffe will give a place where farming and land managers can raise their voices and ensure that the outcomes they can contribute to are delivered.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Dorset Coast: Pollution · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend showed me the scale of pollution on the Dorset coast and I share his determination to put a stop to it. This Government are fixing the broken sewage pipes that are responsible for this pollution, funded by £104 billion of private investment that we have helped to secure. Over the next five years, that will fund Wessex Water, in his area, to cut storm overflow spills by 43%—a major milestone towards cleaning up for good beautiful places in his constituency, which I had the pleasure of visiting with him, such as Bournemouth beach and Hengistbury.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Dorset Coast: Pollution · Hansard source

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  Nationalisation is not the answer, because it would require handing over more than £100 billion to water company owners that could only be raised through higher taxation or cuts to vital public services. It would also take years of legal wrangling that would see the brakes slammed on investment, causing pollution to get worse and, ultimately, lead to higher bills for customers. This Government are taking the fastest possible route towards cleaner water and fairer bills.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I assume that is not my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (David Taylor), but another David Taylor. I am happy to ensure that my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) gets that meeting. Let me take this opportunity to thank her for being such a champion for her residents and her constituency. I have had the honour of visiting a couple of times, and I have seen how strongly she fights for clean water in her community.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  My 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 several recommendations; I will not go through all of them, but one is to set up new regional entities, where customers will have direct representation in taking decisions about how water infrastructure investment will be spent to tackle the priorities in their own areas.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  The new regulatory regime will allow for much closer supervision of the water companies, and will be able to intervene much earlier if there is any sign of those companies failing to invest in the priorities that they have committed to invest in.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I welcome the hon. Member’s support in principle for Sir Jon Cunliffe’s proposal, which I have accepted, to merge the four regulators’ water functions into one single super-regulator. I will publish the White Paper containing the Government’s full response during the autumn. If the hon. Member would like to peruse the 450-page document that Sir Jon has provided, he will find 88 separate recommendations in it, many of which will significantly strengthen regulation so that the new regulator can enforce much more harshly against the kinds of abuses that water companies got away with in the past.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have, of course, saved the bulk of my responses for you and the House this afternoon. With permission, I would like to update the House on the Government’s plans to reform the water sector. The water industry is clearly failing. Our rivers, lakes and seas are polluted with record levels of sewage, and water pipes have been left to crumble into disrepair. I share customers’ fury at rising bills. Right now, hosepipe bans are in place across the country because not a single new reservoir has been built in over 30 years, and the lack of water infrastructure is blocking economic growth. Water companies have been allowed to profit at the expense of the British people when they should have been investing to fix our broken water pipes. They got away with this because of a broken regulatory system that has failed both customers and the environment. The public expressed their fury in last year’s general election and voted for change. That change will now come. In just one year, we have put in place the building blocks for change. First, we restored accountability by giving the regulators more teeth and introducing a ban on unfair bonuses, severe and automatic penalties for breaking the law, and jail sentences for the most serious offences. Secondly, we are investing £104 billion of private sector funding to rebuild the water network, upgrading crumbling pipes, repairing leaks, building new sewage treatment works and digging out new reservoirs. It is the single biggest investment in the history of the water sector, and it allows me to make a new commitment to the country: this Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade. That is the most ambitious commitment ever made by any Government about water pollution, and it is just the start. Over a decade of national renewal, we will restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health. The third building block for change is today’s final report from Sir Jon Cunliffe’s Independent Water Commission. I express my thanks to Sir Jon, his officials, and all those who have contributed to this outstanding piece of work. I agree with Sir Jon that water regulation has been too weak, too complex, and ineffective. Having four separate regulators with overlapping and conflicting remits has failed both customers and the environment. Ofwat has failed to protect customers from water companies’ mismanagement of their hard-earned money, and it has failed to protect our waterways from record levels of pollution. Today, I can announce that this Labour Government will abolish Ofwat. We will bring water functions from four different regulators into one—a single powerful super-regulator responsible for the entire water sector, with the teeth it needs to enforce the high standards that the public rightly demand. The new regulator will stand firmly on the side of customers, investors and the environment and prevent the abuses of the past. For customers, it will oversee investment and upgrade work, so that hard-working British families are never again hit by the shocking bill hikes that we saw last year as customers were left to pay the price of failure by the previous Government. For investors, it will provide the clarity and direction required for a strong partnership between Government, the sector and investors to attract billions of pounds of new funding. For the environment, it will reduce all forms of pollution to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good. We will work closely with the Welsh Government to devolve the economic regulation of water to Wales. I will publish a White Paper this autumn giving the Government’s full response to the Independent Water Commission’s final report and launching a consultation on it. Following that, I will bring forward a new water reform Bill early in the lifetime of this Parliament. Ofwat will remain in place during the transition to the new regulator, and I will ensure that it provides the right leadership to oversee the current price review and investment plan during that time. To provide clarity during this period, I will issue an interim strategic policy statement to Ofwat and give ministerial directions to the Environment Agency setting out our expectations and requirements. We will publish a transition plan as part of our full Government response in the autumn. Today, we are immediately taking forward a number of Sir Jon’s recommendations. First, we will establish a new statutory water ombudsman—a single, free service to help customers resolve complaints such as incorrect bills, leaking pipes or water supply failures. The new ombudsman will have the legal powers to protect customers and will bring the water dispute resolution process in line with other utilities, such as energy. It is part of the Government’s ambition to put customers at the heart of water regulation. Secondly, we will end the era of water companies marking their own homework. We will end operator self-monitoring and transition to open monitoring to increase transparency and help restore public trust. Water companies are already required to publish data on some sewage spills within one hour. We will roll out real-time monitoring across the wastewater system, and all this data will be made publicly available online. That will ensure that the regulator and, importantly, the public have the power to hold water companies fully accountable. Thirdly, we commit to including a regional element within the new regulator to ensure greater local involvement in water planning. By moving to a catchment-based model for water system planning, we can tackle all sources of pollution entering waterways, so that they can be cleaned up more effectively and more quickly. This will ensure—for the first time—that water infrastructure investment plans align with spatial planning to support faster regional economic growth. The lack of water infrastructure that held back development around Cambridge and Oxford for so long will not happen again. The new regulatory framework will recognise the risks investors take and, if they meet their obligations, they will see a fair, stable return on their investment. Just last week, I signed the Government’s new water skills pledge to make sure that the sector has the skills and workforce it needs to deliver this vast investment. This Labour Government were elected to clean up water pollution and ensure that unacceptable bill hikes can never happen again. We now have all the building blocks in place to make that happen. We are establishing a new partnership based on effective regulation, where water companies, investors, communities and the Government will work together to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.