Steve Reed MP: speeches

Speeches

• 28 Jan 2025 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  Of course, it is an independent commission; it is up to Sir Jon to appoint to the board whom he likes. However, it is a very balanced board, and I hope the hon. Gentleman will recognise that voices from many stakeholder groups are represented, as indeed they should be. The commission will report to the UK and Welsh Governments this summer, after which both Governments will respond and consult on Sir Jon’s recommendations, including on further legislation.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. Our rivers, lakes and seas are awash with pollution. The legacy of 14 years of Conservative failure is the highest level of sewage spills on record, economic growth held back by a lack of water supplies and, now, painful bill rises to fix the problems that they left behind. The British public are rightly angry about the state of our waterways. It has been left to this Government to clean up the mess once and for all. The water sector needs a complete reset, reform that puts customers and the environment first, and a new partnership with the Government to invest for the future and upgrade our broken infrastructure. This Government have a three-stage plan to make that happen. During my first week in post, I met water company chief executives and announced immediate steps to improve the performance of the water industry, including ringfencing money for investment in water infrastructure so that it can never again be diverted to bonuses or dividends, and ensuring that customers who face frequent water outages or contaminated tap water receive more generous and faster compensation. This evening, I am delighted to open the Third Reading debate on the Bill. Its core provisions will strengthen the powers of the regulators so that they can better hold water companies to account for poor performance. It will give Ofwat new powers to ban undeserved bonuses when water company executives fail to meet the high standards the public rightly demand. It will introduce stricter penalties, including imprisonment where senior executives of water companies obstruct investigations by environmental regulators, and includes provisions for automatic and severe fines for wrongdoing. We have also extended powers so that environmental regulators can recover costs for a wider range of future enforcement measures—the polluter, not the public, will pay. We have also introduced mandatory monitoring of emergency overflows and pollution incidents so the public can hold companies to account. The Bill has been strengthened and improved in its passage through both Houses. I am thankful to all hon. Members, and all noble Lords in the other place, for their thorough consideration and scrutiny of the Bill, and for the many and varied amendments that have been tabled and debated. Water companies will now be required to include water supply as well as sewage-related incidents in pollution incident reduction plans, and we have created personal liability for chief executives so that there is accountability for these plans at the very highest level. Water companies will also need to produce an implementation report alongside their annual plans so the public can see what action they are taking to reduce pollution incidents. We have introduced two clauses to consider more nature-based solutions such as reed beds and wetlands in drainage and wastewater management plans, and for Ofwat to track progress against our environmental targets. A further clause will ensure that measures are in place to support vulnerable customers, as set out by the water Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy), earlier this evening.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Mental health services are the responsibility of the national health service, and the former Health Secretary, who broke the NHS, is in no position to lecture anybody about public services. She was no friend of the health service and mental health services, and she is no friend of farming. Some 12,000 farms went bust on the Conservatives’ watch. They failed to get £300 million out the door and into the pockets and bank accounts of farmers, and they signed a trade deal with Australia that undercut British farmers on environmental and welfare standards. I hear the posturing, but it is this Government who are standing up for farming.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right to point to the scandalous situation that the previous Government left our waterways in, with record levels of pollution and raw sewage filthying our rivers, lakes and seas. I have appointed Sir Jon Cunliffe to lead a commission to review governance and regulation so that we can stop it ever happening again.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I extend my heartfelt sympathies to that family, but I think it is irresponsible in the extreme to seek to weaponise a personal tragedy of that kind in this way. Where there is mental ill health, there needs to be support for that, and this Government are investing in it. The right hon. Lady knows from the last year for which data is available that the vast majority of claimants will pay absolutely nothing following the changes to agricultural property relief.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I share customers’ anger about the water bill rises announced by Ofwat this morning. Customers have been left to pay the price of Conservative failure after the previous Government let companies spend millions of pounds on bonuses and shareholder payouts instead of investing in our crumbling sewerage infrastructure—if you find cracks in your house and do nothing about it for over a decade, the problem gets worse and the cost of fixing it escalates, and that is exactly what has happened to our sewerage system. We have introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill to curb unjustified bonuses. Money earmarked for investment will be ringfenced so that it can be spent only on infrastructure, rather than bonuses and shareholder payouts, as happened under the Conservatives. I have appointed Sir Jon Cunliffe to lead a commission into the regulation of the water industry so that the failures that led to today’s bill rises can never happen again. This Government will end the Tory sewage scandal once and for all.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Government of course recognise the importance of and need for a robust drainage system, but my hon. Friend will be aware that the previous Government failed to ensure adequate investment to maintain and upgrade it. Water companies have a duty to ensure that the area they serve is effectively drained. This includes drainage of surface water from the land around buildings as well as the provision of sewers.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  There will be an opportunity for Members to engage with Sir Jon Cunliffe’s commission in January, and I am sure that the right hon. Member’s Committee will want to do precisely that. The Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is going through Parliament right now, is intended to make quick changes to the system. Sir Jon’s review will give us the chance to reform regulation and governance for the long term.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Pollution of Waterways · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for raising such an important issue, and I recognise that over 40% of pollution in our waterways comes from agricultural run-off. Sir Jon Cunliffe and the commission he is leading will look at all sources of pollution into our water. The budgets for more sustainable forms of agriculture that we have committed to will seek to reduce the use of fertiliser, so that there is less run-off into our water. The farming road map that we are working on with the farming community is also intended to reduce the amount of run-off from agriculture into our waterways, and we are looking at moving to a whole catchment-based model. We are looking at all sources of pollution into water so that we can clean up all of our rivers, lakes and seas, from whatever source the pollution comes.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Pollution of Waterways · Hansard source

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  The public are sick and tired of the scandal of sewage polluting our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why we are taking immediate action to place water companies under special measures through a new Bill that will give the regulator the power to ban the payment of undeserved bonuses for polluting water companies and bring criminal charges against persistent lawbreakers. We are also carrying out the biggest review of the water sector since privatisation to shape further legislation that will transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Pollution of Waterways · Hansard source

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  The Government continue to monitor very closely what is happening in Thames Water, and indeed in all the other water companies. The only easement I have ever seen given to water companies over pollution was that of the previous Government, who turned a blind eye as sewage was flooding through our rivers, lakes and seas. This Government are putting the water companies under tough regulatory special measures—measures that the previous Government could have enacted, but failed to enact.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Pollution of Waterways · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend on being such a champion for clean rivers in his constituency. As I said, the Bill will ban the payment of undeserved bonuses to water executives who are responsible for this kind of pollution, and will ensure instead that money is spent where it should always have been spent: on fixing the infrastructure, so that we can stop once and for all the kinds of sewage scandals that are creating the river pollution his constituents are so aghast to see on their doorstep.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Budget: Family Farms · Hansard source

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  Of course we hear the concerns, but I say to the right hon. Gentleman that in the last year for which we have actual claims data available, over 75% of claimants would not be affected. Of course, most farms, like every other business, can do succession planning in the usual way so they do not have to pay any more than they need to.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Budget: Family Farms · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman raises a number of important points. I will repeat my earlier comments about agricultural property relief: the last year for which we have data available shows that the vast majority of claimants will not pay anything. Unlike the previous Government, who thought that farmers were not in it for the money, we want them to succeed, so we are embarking on a farming road map and a new deal for farming that will consider supply chain fairness and stop farmers being undercut in trade deals such as the one the Conservatives agreed with Australia and New Zealand. Our intention is to make farming profitable for the future; the Conservatives’ record is the 12,000 farming businesses that went bust.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Budget: Family Farms · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will be aware that the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), and the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), keep telling farmers that they are not in it for the money. We know that they are. They are businesses that need to make a profit, and our new deal for farmers, which includes increasing supply chain fairness, is intended to make farms profitable and successful for the future in the way they were not under the previous Government.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Budget: Family Farms · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who raises an important point. However, I find it a little ironic that Conservative Members are calling for this Government to commit to spending that their Government never committed to. The Weybridge biosecurity facility is so dilapidated that it faces obsolescence by the early 2030s—that is the legacy that the Conservatives left. The £208 million that we have committed will start the process of improving those facilities, and through the spending review phase coming forward, we will consider how we can commit further funding to ensure biosecurity for farmers, which the Conservatives absolutely failed to do.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Budget: Family Farms · Hansard source

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  May I take this opportunity to wish a very merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and to the hard-working House staff? The Government have committed £5 billion to the agricultural budget over the next two years. That is the biggest budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in our history. We are also investing £60 million into the farming recovery fund to support farmers affected by unprecedented extreme wet weather last winter. We understand concerns about changes to agricultural property relief, but the majority of those who inherit farmland after a death and claim relief will not be affected by the changes.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  There is a process by which any company would go into administration. That situation has not yet arisen with any company. The Government are, of course, closely monitoring the situation with Thames Water, but as things stand the company remains viable and I reassure consumers in that area that there is no threat, and would be no threat, to water supply in any circumstance. The Government have a three-stage plan to deliver change and bring in the biggest ever investment in our water sector. That started with the initial reforms I announced in the week following the general election. It continues with the Bill before the House today. It will be completed with the water commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, and further legislation that will follow on from that. In my first week as Environment Secretary, I met water company chief executives and announced a set of immediate reforms to start the process of change. Money earmarked for investment to upgrade water infrastructure will now be ringfenced, so it cannot be diverted for other purposes, including paying bonuses or dividends. If it is not spent on what it was intended for, it will be refunded back to customers as discounts on their bills. Water companies agreed to formally change their company objectives to place customers and the environment at the heart of everything they do. They will set up powerful new customer panels to scrutinise key decisions. Customers who face frequent water outages—like the constituents my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) talked about—or contaminated tap water, as residents and businesses experienced in Brixham in Devon, will now receive more generous compensation and they will get it faster. We promised in our manifesto to put water companies under special measures to clean up our water. The core provisions of the Bill do precisely that by strengthening the powers of the regulators and holding water companies to account for poor performance.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I hope that Members will allow me to make some progress. I am worried about how much time I am taking, given that so many other Members want to contribute to the debate. The Bill is just one part of the Government’s ambitious and long-term approach to fundamentally transforming the water sector. Together with the Welsh Government, I have commissioned Sir Jon Cunliffe, the distinguished former deputy governor of the Bank of England, to lead an independent commission on the future of the water industry. It will be the most comprehensive review of the industry since its privatisation 35 years ago.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives had 14 years to fix the system and they chose to do absolutely nothing. They have left it to the incoming Labour Government to clear up the mess they left behind. The truth is that the water sector needs a complete reset. It needs reform that puts customers and the environment first for once, and a new partnership with the Government to invest for the future and upgrade our water infrastructure.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I will make some progress, if Members do not mind. The commission will review regulation and governance from the bottom up to ensure that we have a robust framework that can attract the significant investment that is needed to clean up our waterways, while guaranteeing future water supplies, restoring public confidence and promoting economic growth. Sir Jon will be supported by an advisory group covering areas including the environment, public health, engineering, customers, investors and economics. The commission will seek advice from stakeholder groups, including environmental campaigners, consumer champions, water companies, regulators and the public, and it will make recommendations by June 2025. This is our opportunity to completely reset the water industry so that it is fit for the future and can finally move on from the failures of the past. I want to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hull West and Haltemprice, who will steer the Bill through this House. I know that she will lead this work with the expertise and passion for which she is well known across the House. No one is better suited to lead our Department’s first piece of primary legislation under the new Government. This Bill is our chance to right the wrongs that have so angered members of the public up and down the country. Water pollution is not inevitable and it is not acceptable. Our children and grandchildren deserve to make the same wonderful memories that we did, splashing about in clean rivers, swimming in the sea or playing on the shores of our beautiful lakes, without fear of getting sick. It is time to clean up our water once and for all, and the Bill is an important step in making that happen. Let us seize the opportunity to give this country back the clean rivers, lakes and seas that are our shared birthright.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I am delighted to open the Second Reading debate on the Water (Special Measures) Bill—something I hope the whole House will consider to be an early Christmas present. I thank the noble Baroness Hayman of Ullock for her outstanding leadership of the Bill during its passage through the House of Lords, where it quite rightly won support from all sides. Our rivers, lakes and seas are part of our beautiful British landscape and have been enjoyed by generations. Our countryside is one of the things that makes us proudest to be British, but that pride too often turns to dismay because in too many parts of our country, the local river, lake or beach has been made filthy by pollution. People worry that the places they enjoyed when they were younger are no longer there for their own children or grandchildren. No parent should have to worry that their child might get sick from splashing around in the local sea or river. Our green and pleasant land is no longer quite so pleasant. Our rivers, lakes and seas are being choked by record levels of pollution from untreated sewage, as well as chemicals and run-off from agriculture and highways. The Bill is not just about the desecration of water running through our countryside. Clean water is essential for every home and business up and down the country. It is one of the essential foundations of our economy, our communities and our national security. We use water to cool power stations, generate electricity, supply our leisure industries and grow the food that feeds us, but our water infrastructure is under increasing strain. It is outdated, inadequate and crumbling. The situation is made worse by our changing climate, with more frequent and severe rainfall, floods and droughts. Water supplies to homes and businesses are disrupted too frequently in some parts of the country. I have spoken to residents in Hastings and Rye who were rightly furious at the inadequate information, lack of alternative supply and little to no compensation when yet another outage happened in their locality.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner for cleaner water for her constituents, and she is quite right. If millions of pounds had not been diverted unnecessarily and unfairly into bonuses, that money could have been invested in improving the broken water infrastructure. The Bill will go further by expanding the cost recovery powers for the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Drinking Water Inspectorate. That means that water companies will bear the cost of enforcement activities, in line with the “polluter pays” principle, while also giving regulators the extra resources needed to hold water companies properly to account.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I agree that it is indeed amazing. I know that all of us on the Labour Benches, and perhaps on the Opposition Benches too, share the public’s anger at what happened to our rivers, lakes and seas. The legacy of 14 years of Conservative Government is the highest level of sewage spills on record, economic growth held back by a lack of water supplies, and now potentially painful bill rises to fix the problems they left behind.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to make that point. We are not just giving the regulators more teeth; we are also giving them more resources to ensure that they can carry out enforcement against those responsible for wrongdoing. The Bill requires Ofwat to consider how it can contribute to achieving targets set under the Environment Act 2021 and the Climate Change Act 2008 when carrying out its functions. Together, these measures will ensure that water companies serve customers and the environment far better in future.