Independent Water Commission

Peter Prinsley Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

I am more than happy to make sure my hon. Friend gets a meeting with an appropriate Minister. I am sure she will be pleased to know that this Government have ringfenced customers’ money so that it can only be spent on the purposes it was intended for, including upgrading broken and leaking pipes, and will no longer be diverted to pay for bonuses and dividends, as used to happen under the previous Government.

[Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)]

What a pleasure it was to welcome the Secretary of State to the water meadows in Bury St Edmunds. The Lark and the Linnet in Bury St Edmunds and the Gipping in Stowmarket are disgracefully neglected, and my own laboratory tests reveal dangerously high ammonia levels, for I too have become a citizen scientist. I welcome the decision to scrap Ofwat, but does the Secretary of State agree that our precious Suffolk chalk streams must be protected?

[Steve Reed]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and it was indeed a pleasure to visit Bury St Edmunds—he is very lucky to represent such a beautiful part of the country. In becoming a citizen scientist, he has joined a very proud movement, and I am sure that he will make an important contribution to its work.