Water Bill

Amanda Hack Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 28th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Amanda Hack (North West Leicestershire) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich South (Clive Lewis) for bringing forward this important Bill. I enjoyed his passionate—although a little loud—speech. He is right that the public want better, and I think the actions that we have taken in government show that we want better too.

In recent months there have been so many discussions in the Chamber, Westminster Hall and the other place on how we can fix the broken water industry that the Tories left behind. We have passed a Bill and set up a commission—clear action from this Government. These crucial debates together are ensuring that my constituents get the justice and representation they deserve after the Tories failed communities like mine for 14 years, and not just in the water sector but in so many public services. Sadly, they turned a blind eye to record levels of illegal sewage dumping, cut the Environment Agency budget in half since 2010, and allowed customer money to be spent irresponsibly on director bonuses and shareholder payouts.

The Conservatives avoided so many opportunities to hold the water companies to account, and they failed to regulate to protect our waterways, even after a shocking incident in September 2022 in my constituency. On 12 September, the Environment Agency received reports of a sewage discharge. Contractors arrived at Brooks Lane pumping station the same day to stop the problem, but officers discovered that 1 km of West Meadow Brook near Whitwick had been polluted. The investigation found the sewage discharge had been going on for weeks completely unchecked. There was an overwhelming odour, with a thick coating of sewage fungus covering the riverbed. Human faecal matter was also visible.

Severn Trent Water admitted that its teams had failed to see that the pumps had latched out and were not activated. It also accepted that it had failed to monitor effectively. The damage was so severe that the company took the offer of an enforcement undertaking, giving Trent Rivers Trust £600,000 to support the restoration of the habitat and environmental improvements.

In the same year, 2022, Sir Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, outlined the serious health risks that sewage spills can pose for those using the country’s waterways. The Tories did not heed his warnings and nothing was ever done. Even after this disgusting incident, sewage still poured into waterways in North West Leicestershire: 15,000 hours in 2023—15,000 hours!—and close along to the pumping station there are a number of storm outflows, which continue to release untreated effluent whenever they fancy. I have visited residents and walked with them across several sections where spills take place. It is disgusting, because even when the sewage is no longer being spilled the residual smell lingers and the visible debris continues. Severn Trent does clearance work, but never enough.

As a Leicestershire MP, I also have to mention flooding. We have had so many residents who have been impacted by flooding in our county, not just once, but many, many times, and, sadly, now are never going to be able to return to their homes, such is the impact of flooding in my community. There is no doubt in my mind that if the Tories were still in government, we still would have had no action to address these issues. They would still be taking none of the action needed to clean up our rivers and seas, and there would be no cracking down on the water executives.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)]

I have not intervened on other speeches, but on that one comment that the hon. Lady has made, has she read the plan for water that was published by the previous Government and is she aware of its contents, which include £56 billion of investment to deal with exactly this issue?

--- Later in debate ---

[Amanda Hack]

I served on the Water (Special Measures) Bill Committee and obviously did my research on that. However, nothing changed: so we had a plan, but what we need is action, and that is the most important part of the approach we need to take.

Bonuses have still been paid to executives. Since 2020 they have rewarded themselves £41 million in bonuses, benefits and incentives—the price of failure was literally rewarded. I know how important tackling the behaviour of the water companies is locally. Water issues are constant in my casework, including flooding, sewage and water management. In a meeting with Severn Trent Water in January, one of my constituents was so furious at the lack of action, after months of issues and several meetings trying to get Severn Trent to deal with them, that she brought a bag of sewage with her and dumped it on the table on front of the executives.

When water companies are responding to emails or calls from residents, too often they forget how stomach-churningly detestable the issues really are, which proves how out of touch they really are. Going forward, we know that accountability is crucial, but communication with residents is equally important and they cannot be left behind. I encourage every one of my constituents who experiences problems with sewage outflows, flooding or poor standards of customer service to continue to get in touch with me. There is simply no excuse for the way in which some of my constituents have been treated, and I am certain that many other hon. Members will have constituents with similar stories.

Having served on the Water (Special Measures) Bill Committee, it was clear to me that that Act is a first step in a line of measures to hold the water bosses to account. The Act will ban bonuses for polluting water bosses. News reports in the last day about the record levels of sewage discharges will mean that no boss should get any bonus this year. The Act will enable criminal charges against law breakers, meaning examples like the one I gave earlier may have resulted in a criminal charge. It will force water companies to cover the cost of the enforcement action and pay for the damage that they do to our communities.

We have to go further, and we will. Sir Jon Cunliffe’s current review of the water sector is open for evidence. He has said

“that the prize here is significant—cleaner waters, growth and a stable, well-funded sector”.

His passion for change is clear and matches the current Government’s ambition to clean up our filthy waterways. I am sure that all hon. Members in the Chamber, especially those on the Labour Benches, are 100% committed to taking the actions necessary to fix our foundations, because that is what our constituents, our country and our environment deserve. My constituents voted for change, and I will ensure that they continue to get it.