Drought: Impact and Policies

Lord Spellar Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The simple answer to that is that the rules for special administration make it quite difficult for the Government to put Thames Water into special administration while it is still financing itself. I know the noble Baroness is saying that it is about to run out of money, but on paper and in its finances, it is continuing to operate as a company and to provide water. The question is: how long are the Government prepared to accept the current situation? That is something we are looking at.

[Lord Spellar (Lab)]

My Lords, I ask the Minister to reflect on the irony of the Liberal Democrats raising the issue of water shortages in the south-east and south-west, when their party was at the forefront of campaigning against new reservoirs—

[Noble Lords]

Hear, hear!

[Lord Spellar (Lab)]

I thank my fan club—particularly at Didcot in the Thames Valley.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

We had a Question on reservoirs last week, and I think I made the point then that I am going to make now, which is that people are desperate for reservoirs before they have been built, because they do not have enough water. As soon as you try to build a reservoir, all of a sudden people do not want it in their area. We have to come together as a country and sort this out.