Independent Water Commission

Iqbal Mohamed Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

I cannot take credit for the picture—that was Sir Jon—but I can join my hon. Friend in crediting the campaign groups who have done such a fantastic job at keeping this issue at the top of the political agenda. Sir Jon makes proposals in his report about those labyrinthine structures that she is talking about. We need clarity and transparency, and that is what we will now work towards.

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

Between 2001 and 2023, there were over 4,600 incidents of sewage overflows in Dewsbury and Batley, amounting to over 28,000 hours. Bills for my constituents and Yorkshire Water customers have gone up by 40% in the last five years and by nearly 30% in the last 12 months. Some £84 billion has been taken in dividends by all the water companies in the UK, with £74 billion of that saddled on to the companies themselves. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to reduce the bills of my constituents and residents of the whole United Kingdom, and what steps will he take to claw back that £84 billion so it can be invested to fix the pipes?

[Steve Reed]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for making that important point. His constituents, just like people right across the country, were last year forced to pay the price of 14 years of Conservative failure, because the Conservatives allowed the companies to pay out millions in dividends and bonuses when that money should have been invested in upgrading infrastructure. I have ringfenced customers’ money so that it will now only be spent on the purposes for which it was intended; otherwise, it will be returned to customers.