Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Stafford Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan]

I thank my hon. Friend for his work on those important matters. This is about fairness for consumers and farmers. We want people to know where their food comes from, trust what they are buying, and back British farmers who meet our high standards. I would happily meet my hon. Friend to discuss his helpful ideas.

[Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)]

The beautiful River Wey runs through my constituency, but storm overflows from the Farnham sewage treatment works are increasingly polluting the river, affecting my residents and businesses and those further afield, including the Peper Harow Park fly fishers in the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt). What discussions is the Minister having with Thames Water about stopping the discharges from the Farnham sewage works?

[Emma Hardy]

The hon. Member is right to feel outraged at the amount of pollution and the situation with Thames Water. He will have heard the Secretary of State’s comments on what we are doing on Thames Water and her early views on the original deal put forward by the creditors to clean this up. That is why we took action with the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 to bring in tougher regulation, and why just yesterday we announced automatic penalties for companies that continue to pollute.