Sewage Pollution: Lakes and Rivers Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lord Watts
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Sewage Pollution: Lakes and Rivers
Lord Watts Excerpts(8 months ago)
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Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
I will certainly commit to taking the noble Baroness’s suggestion back to the department.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, have not the regulator and Ministers allowed the water companies to rip off the general public for the last 13 years? Can the Minister guarantee that no water company will be nationalised, and that they will wait for them to be bankrupt and then take them into public ownership?
Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
My Lords, the Government are committed to a system of independent economic regulation and have no plans to bring the water companies into public ownership. Since privatisation, the private water sector model has unlocked around £215 billion of investment and delivered a wide range of benefits, including a fivefold decrease in supply interruptions to customers and a reduction in leakages by one third.