Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mary Creagh and Paul Davies

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mary Creagh)]

The hon. Member is absolutely right, but in the last five years under the previous Government, incidents rose by 20%. We are encouraging councils to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, and we will be consulting on a conditional caution so that people who do fly-tip will pick up and pay up.

[Paul Davies (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

T6. The recent real-life drama “Dirty Business” highlighted the scale of the issues within the water industry. In my constituency, Yorkshire Water has had serious issues with sewage outflows and poor standards of infrastructure. I welcome the Government’s water reforms, which will protect customers. However, does the Secretary of State agree that we now need to consider public ownership of the water industry in order to resolve the fundamental problems it faces?