It’s time to stop rewarding the failure of our water companies

One of the very worst legacies of 14 years of Conservative governments is the soiling of our beautiful, nature rich rivers in High Peak with raw sewage.

High Peak is one of the top fifty worst affected constituencies by sewage being dumped into our rivers. In 2023 the River Derwent and the River Wye suffered thousands of sewage overflows contributing to water pollution and ecological harm.

Yet the water company bosses responsible rewarded themselves with outrageous bonuses. In the 2023 financial year, the United Utilities CEO received a remuneration of £3.2 million including nearly a million pounds worth of annual bonus. Severn Trent, which was fined £2 million this year for reckless pollution, still lifted its bonuses to £3.36 million. We must stop rewarding failure.

I spoke about this issue in Parliament on the 75^th anniversary of the foundation of our National Parks. I’m delighted that the government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill would enable government and the regulators to achieve the commitments outlined in the 2024 Labour manifesto:

• To block the payment of bonuses to executives who pollute waterways;
• To bring criminal charges against persistent law breakers;
• To impose automatic and severe fines for wrongdoing;
• To ensure independent monitoring of every outlet.

At the General Election, ending pollution of High Peak’s rivers and waters was a top priority. It was raised in all six hustings that I did, often more than once. In High Peak, the pumping of raw sewage into our precious rivers has become emblematic of the utter chaos and failure of the last 14 years.

So I greatly welcome the measures in this bill. The independent monitoring of all outlets will provide greater transparency for people in High Peak and will enable the regulators to hold United Utilities and Severn Trent to account. This, combined with the increased ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against law breaking water executives with tougher penalties including up to 2 years in prison, as well as new powers for OFWAT to ban bonuses unless water bosses meet higher standards of environmental protection, really should concentrate the minds of executives at Severn Trent and United Utilities.

It was a Labour government that created our National Parks 75 years ago and it is a Labour government that is taking the steps to protect the rivers that run through them for the next 75 years.