Wet Wipes: Plastic Ban

Bayo Alaba Excerpts

Wednesday 29th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Mr Bayo Alaba (Southend East and Rochford) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) for securing this important debate. I appreciate her tireless work to ban plastic fibres in wet wipes.

Wet wipes are an everyday household item. When flushed, they do not break down. They block sewers, pollute waterways and harm marine life. I represent a beautiful coastal community whose coastline must be protected. Unfortunately, I continue to hear from residents on Thorpe Hall Avenue who are distressed by flooding in their homes time and again—only last week they were flooded. Alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West and Leigh (David Burton-Sampson), I continue to campaign for cleaner water, improved flood defence infrastructure, and greater accountability from Anglian Water.

Through Southend’s water quality summits, which I co-chair, we have heard directly from residents and local organisations. The message is clear: our communities deserve better. Under the previous Government, water companies were left unregulated, polluting our coastlines while executives paid themselves millions in bonuses. That is unacceptable and not what this Government stand for. Our Government have acted. The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 is a landmark piece of legislation that bans bonuses for water company bosses, and it introduced criminal charges for individuals who attempt to cover up sewage spills. The goal is to fundamentally transform the culture of the water industry. This summer the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced measurable targets for the first time. Those targets will hold water companies to account. Previous Governments have failed to ban wet wipes. It is the Government’s will to bring a ban into effect. We are a Government of action, not words.

Every year the UK uses approximately 11 billion wet wipes, and industry reports indicate that most of those contain plastic fibres. According to research, more than 90% of fatbergs found in our sewers are made up of wet wipes, which cause blockages that result in sewage flooding in homes and pollution in our rivers.

Anglian Water estimates that about 500,000 wet wipes are flushed into the east of England’s sewer system every day. That figure highlights the significant scale of the problem, which is why I fully support our Government’s commitment to banning the sale and supply of wet wipes that contain plastic fibres. Such action will reduce marine litter, decrease pollution and support progress towards a zero waste economy. However, we must continue with this progress.

I urge the Minister to ensure that manufacturers cannot label wet wipes as flushable or disposable. Those misleading claims cause confusion and directly contribute to sewer blockages, flooding and environmental damage. Will the Minister commit to meeting me to address the marketing and labelling of wet wipes, so that together we can put an immediate stop to these harmful and misleading practices that damage our environment?

Southend’s coastline is vital to our community and local economy. Flooding continues to cause stress and disruption to residents across my constituency. We must ensure that our rivers, seas and beaches remain clean and safe for generations to come. I am proud to support the ban and look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bayo Alaba Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

Unfortunately, my hon. Friend accurately describes the years of neglect of the justice system under the previous Government. She asks specifically about the Legal Aid Agency. The Government took immediate action to bolster the security of the agency’s systems and an injunction was put in place to prohibit the sharing of any breached data. We have put in place contingency plans to ensure that those most in need of legal support can continue to access the help that they need, and we are working at pace to restore services quickly and safely.

[Mr Bayo Alaba (Southend East and Rochford) (Lab)]

4. What steps she has taken with the Crown Prosecution Service to support victims of crime.

[Pam Cox (Colchester) (Lab)]

7. What steps she has taken with the Crown Prosecution Service to support victims of crime. [R]

[The Solicitor General]

This Government are committed to restoring confidence in the criminal justice system, which means ensuring that victims of crime are properly supported through the justice process. The CPS is taking a range of measures to better support victims, including by offering pre-trial meetings to adult victims of rape and serious sexual assault, recruiting victim liaison officers to act as a consistent point of contact for victims, and delivering the groundbreaking victim transformation programme.

[Mr Alaba]

Earlier this year, I visited Southend-on-Sea Rape Crisis centre, where we discussed how extended court delays put pressure on the third sector organisations that provide this vital support. Under the previous Government, the total backlog of all court cases soared, with 73,000 victims left waiting years for their day in court. Now, we finally have a Government who are putting victims first. Our Labour Government have allocated the highest number of sitting days on record. How is the CPS playing its role in getting quicker justice for victims?

[The Solicitor General]

My hon. Friend rightly highlights the necessary and important action that this Government are taking to address the crisis in our courts. Alongside that, the CPS is using every tool at its disposal to reduce the backlog, including by trialling new initiatives to expedite domestic abuse trials and weekly listing meetings with partners in the criminal justice system.

Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords]

Bayo Alaba Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 16th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Bayo Alaba (Southend East and Rochford) (Lab)]

I am so pleased to be here to discuss the Bill. Water quality is one of the biggest issues facing residents across my constituency, particularly in relation to pollution levels, and under-investment in infrastructure has reduced flood resilience in our residential areas. In Southend, our beaches have lost some of their blue flags in recent months, particularly in Thorpe bay, because of surface water drainage issues. Constituents experiencing significant flooding every time there is increased rainfall. Some constituents living around the Thorpe Hall Avenue area have tried to sell up, and have been forced to sell for up to 15% below the market value as a direct consequence of flooding. That is simply not good enough, and it is why I am so pleased to be here to support the most significant increase in enforcement and regulation of the water industry in a decade.

Since my election, I have co-chaired the Southend water quality summit with my good and hon. Friend the Member for Southend West and Leigh (David Burton-Sampson). We have been trying to bring all community stakeholders back together again to put additional pressure on Anglian Water. The summits are held quarterly, and are an opportunity for residents, water companies and campaign groups such as Southend Against Sewage to come together to raise issues and concerns. That model empowers communities, and I am proud that our city has been a pioneer in holding water companies to account.

After all, Southend is a coastal community, so water quality is completely intertwined with daily life. Our beautiful coastlines are a natural asset that needs to be protected—frankly, they are one of our superpowers—but, frustratingly, our water quality does not always meet the standards that residents, visitors and tourists deserve. However, the Bill means that we can look forward to clean rivers, lakes, seas and estuaries. Not only will it drive up performance by blocking bonuses for executives and imposing automatic and severe fines for those who pollute our waterways, but it will introduce criminal charges for persistent lawbreakers. In 2022, £9.7 million was paid out in executive bonuses—that is simply not good enough.

For too long, water quality and food resilience have been overlooked. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Southend-on-Sea. Suffice it to say that I wholeheartedly welcome the Bill as a first step in the transformation of the water industry.