Oral Answers to Questions

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

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.

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

Merry Christmas to you and your staff, Mr Speaker.

I declare an interest as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water pollution. While I welcome the limited measures that the Government are taking to tackle pollution from the water industry, there is an elephant in the room, because agricultural pollution is just as important a source of pollution in our rivers, lakes and seas. What will the Secretary of State do to tackle the problem of agricultural pollution with the same degree of urgency and focus, and how will he support farmers—who themselves stand ready to take action to tackle this problem—by providing the funding, support and clear regulatory enforcement that is needed for a level playing field?

[Steve Reed]

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.

Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords]

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 16th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

I declare an interest as a founding co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water pollution. As the Minister well knows, I have a deep and abiding interest in the theme of water pollution. I gently remind her that agricultural run-off is the primary source of water pollution in my constituency, and I welcome the constructive conversations we had on that topic last week. Today, I will talk about the broader topic of the Bill.

Water companies have extracted £85 billion of value from our water industry since privatisation—that is an extraordinary figure—and their flagrant abuse of our rivers, seas and lakes is a stain on our country, literally as well as figuratively. Some 30% of all water bills now go on debt servicing and dividends, and this is money that should be going towards maintaining and improving our water infrastructure and services. Thames Water, Southern Water and South East Water have all had their credit ratings downgraded, meaning that about a third of bill payers in England and Wales are now paying their bills to junk-rated companies, which again is extraordinary. As companies’ finances get worse, new debt gets more expensive to service, and where does the money come from? The money comes from bill payers.

It is clear for all to see that the interests of water company shareholders and the interests of the public are at odds. It is not possible to use our water as a vehicle for maximum short-term profit and at the same time to deliver safe, reliable, affordable drinking water and a clean environment. One comes at the expense of the other.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Ellie Chowns]

I am really sorry, but I will not give way because I know so many Members want to come in.

In my view and that of my Green colleagues, the only way to run a water system in the interests of people and nature is to take away the profit motive entirely. It should never have been allowed near our water industry in the first place. Any steps to end this culture of impunity in the water industry are very welcome. Unfortunately, the measures in this Bill are, in my view, largely to look nice in headlines, and they are maybe a bit of an attempt to look busy. I say that gently, but I do think we need to go further. In fact, the majority of the British public agree with me: 82% of the British public believe that we should have water in public ownership. I challenge the Government to take up that mantle—that mandate—from the British public to do the right thing, and to take the profit motive out of water entirely.

I always believe in talking about areas of common ground, and I recognise that multiple elements of this Bill are positive steps. I will, with my colleagues, be supporting it. I welcome the extension of monitoring requirements for sewage overflows, and I welcome the requirement for more customer involvement in decision making, which I would like to see extended to worker representation as well. I welcome the encouragement for companies to consider much more use of nature-based solutions, and I would love to see this extended even further.

To be honest, however, what we have seen with the financial mess that the companies are in is the complete failure of the model of privatisation. We need to do more than just tinkering at the edges. The Government’s water commission will not even be allowed to consider the question of public ownership, so it will hunt high and low for solutions while continuing to kick the can down the road. Is it not time that the Minister faced the reality that profit in water has failed, and to do what the majority of the British public want, which is to bring our water and sewage utilities back into public ownership?

Future of Farming

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I will focus my comments on areas where I think we can achieve a degree of cross-party agreement. I have already heard agreement that farmers are the stewards of the land. We can agree that farming is a diverse sector, and farmers as a group are very diverse, which we need to bear in mind whenever we make policy.

I would like to discuss four issues that farmers in my North Herefordshire constituency have raised with me. First, farmers need long-term policy certainty. The hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (Dan Aldridge) talked about record investment in farming, but in real terms it is effectively static. What we need is a significant ramping up of Government support for the farming sector. The Nature Friendly Farming Network has called for a doubling of the farming budget, which is a call that the Green party strongly supports. We need far more investment in environmental land management schemes, as well as the long-term certainty that farmers need to make decisions to put land into those schemes.

Secondly, farmers tell me that they want better regulation of the food sector, such as a more even balance of power between farmers and supermarkets. Too many of them feel under the cosh as price takers, not price makers. That is a real problem. There is also the phenomenon of farmwashing, whereby supermarkets pretend that their food is grown on lovely family farms all over the UK when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. We need clear Government regulation on that.

The third issue, which has already been mentioned, relates to the Government’s role in public procurement. I am glad the Government are taking some initiative on that, but there is far more that could be done, particularly to ensure that schools provide universal free school meals based on the procurement of local, sustainably grown food—

Storm Bert

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

Monday 25th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

This weekend, residents in my constituency were flooded yet again. The same thing happened only five weeks ago, and after that event I met people at my surgery who showed me footage of floodwater spewing out of their toilet into the downstairs area, and of their sodden houses. I met more than 100 residents in the village of Eardisland who expressed concerns that I know are widespread in the county and the constituency.

On that occasion in October more than 100 households in Herefordshire were flooded, yet the flood recovery framework was not initiated because Ministers felt that the flooding was not widespread or severe enough. Will the Secretary of State please consider the terms under which the flood recovery framework is initiated? It provides vital support that councils can pass on to help that recovery: immediate grants for communities and businesses, with council tax and business rates relief. Will he think about how that is triggered and consider giving the responsibility to local authorities, which are far the best-placed agencies to judge when it is required? In addition to everything we need for flood resilience, that immediate support is crucial at times like this.

[Steve Reed]

May I extend my sympathies to the hon. Lady’s constituents following the distressing experiences that they have undergone during this and, I am sure, previous flooding episodes? She is quite right to ask how we can improve the flooding formula and get agencies working better on the frontline. It is possible to do so through the consultation that we have launched on the formula, and I hope that she will contribute to that. I am sure we can get to a position where the formula works much better for her constituents in North Herefordshire and for those in every other part of the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Zeichner]

What I would say is that I have had more meetings with Tom Bradshaw over the past few weeks than I have had for a long, long time, for reasons that are entirely obvious. I was grateful to him for congratulating the Government on getting a very good financial settlement for farmers when he addressed the egg and poultry industry conference on Monday in Newport, Wales. I was grateful that he recognised that.

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

8. What steps he plans to take to support nature-friendly farming.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

I point the hon. Lady to the extraordinary transformation that is under way, with the huge amount of extra money going into the sustainable farm incentive and our environmental land management schemes this year. It is the biggest transformation on record.

[Ellie Chowns]

I recognise the very welcome shift towards nature-friendly farming, which offers environmental, social and economic benefits—not just nature protection, but good healthy food and good jobs—yet the farmer-led Nature Friendly Farming Network argues that the agriculture budget needs to be more than doubled to £6 billion a year. Will the Minister press his Treasury colleagues to put more money into nature-friendly farming to secure a sustainable future for UK farming?

[Daniel Zeichner]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her support for the transition that we are undertaking. In fact, I was speaking to Martin Lines from the Nature Friendly Farming Network only yesterday evening. He and many of his colleagues are delighted with the transition that we are making, but, as ever, the Greens’ grasp of economics is limited.

Mental Health: Farming and Agricultural Communities

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Aphra Brandreth]

I appreciate the hon. Member’s comments, and I am sorry to hear about the tragic instances in his constituency. We very much need to be collaborative to improve things for the farming community.

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

I thank the hon. Lady for securing the debate. Will she join me in paying tribute to farmer-initiated and farmer-led organisations, such as We are Farming Minds in my constituency? They do such important work to support their colleagues in the farming sector and to tackle mental health challenges head-on.

[Aphra Brandreth]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for mentioning those excellent organisations; I will note others later in my speech.

For all those reasons, this debate and the actions and commitments from the Minister are important. Women are an often overlooked group when we talk about rural mental health, particularly young women. There are inspiring examples of women who run farms and contribute a great deal to the agricultural sector. Of course, women are almost always involved in a farming operation, even if they are not always hands-on in the yard or fields.

Independent Water Commission

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the previous Government deliberately weakened the regulators. They kept regulation too weak to hold the water companies to account and to ensure that we got the investment which could have maintained a better standard of infrastructure and stopped the level of pollution that his and everyone else’s constituents have had to face. We have already taken steps through the Water (Special Measures) Bill to give the regulator more teeth. The commission will be looking root and branch at the role of regulation, governance and the regulator, to ensure we have a system that is fit for the future that will guarantee clean water for decades to come.

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

If I heard correctly, at the start of his statement the Secretary of State referred to the River Lugg, which runs through the centre of my constituency. Its catchment has been subject to a planning moratorium for more than five years, because of excess levels of phosphates in the river. The Secretary of State will be well aware that the reason for that is not primarily sewage pollution, but agricultural run-off; more than two thirds of the pollution is from agricultural run-off and only a quarter from sewage. However, the terms of reference for the Government’s water commission essentially make no mention of agriculture, with only a passing reference and nothing specific about addressing that problem; likewise the Water (Special Measures) Bill. With such a narrow approach to addressing water pollution, the Secretary of State will not be able to achieve his aim of cleaning up our rivers and seas. Does he agree that the terms of reference need to be changed to incorporate full attention on agricultural pollution as well as sewage?

[Steve Reed]

I hope the hon. Lady will look at the terms of reference, which are available at gov.uk. They focus on the whole catchment area of rivers and include agricultural run-off, which accounts for 45% of water pollution. Where there is an interface between agriculture and polluted water, that is indeed in scope for the work of the commission.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ellie Chowns Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

The Solicitor General was asked—

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

1. If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the unduly lenient sentence scheme to include unduly severe sentences.

[The Solicitor General (Sarah Sackman)]

It is a privilege to be appointed as His Majesty’s Solicitor General. My fellow Law Officers and I will be working to restore public faith in government and the rule of law, and to support the Home Secretary and the Lord Chancellor in delivering our safer streets mission.

Sentencing policy is quintessentially a matter for the Ministry of Justice; sentencing is a matter for our judges. Offenders already have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal against their sentences, including when they consider them to be unduly excessive.

[Ellie Chowns]

Since 4 July, more than 40 people have been jailed in the UK for peaceful acts of conscience: some for protesting climate breakdown, some for taking measures to stop violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. The UN special rapporteur, Michel Forst, has made public statements to the effect that these sentences violate international law and are not acceptable in a democracy. With our prisons in crisis and radical measures necessary, as we have seen with the release of prisoners this week, will the Attorney General issue guidance to judges to ensure that sentencing for peaceful protest is realigned with common sense, democratic principles and international law?

[The Solicitor General]

Decisions to prosecute, convict and sentence are rightly made independently of Government by the Crown Prosecution Service, juries and judges respectively. As I have already said, if someone wants to appeal an unduly excessive sentence, they can do so and our courts are there to handle that matter.