Speeches by Hardy.

“I can hear the hon. Gentleman’s passion and how upset he is about the devastating impact that repeated flooding has had on his community. We are putting a record amount of money into flood defences and will continue to do so. We are also looking at how we can work more effectively with other agencies in the area. I sha…”

“People have every right to be frustrated about bill rises—years of neglect and under-investment have left our water infrastructure crumbling, and those increases now show the cost of putting that right. This Government are focused on tackling the cost of living, preventing those huge bill increases from ever happening …”

“With respect, I think the hon. Gentleman has just made the case for why mutualising water companies is not the answer on performance. This Government have already banned more than £4 million in unfair bonuses, which have been blocked by Ofwat for 2024-25.”

“The hon. Lady raises a really important point—I have been following the situation really closely, and it is devastating. She is quite right to point out the trauma and upset caused by flooding. We invested £80 million in Somerset between April 2024 and March 2025 on flood and coastal risk management, and we will alloca…”

“My hon. Friend raises a really important point. He will have noticed that we published the PFAS—perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances—plan earlier this week, which looks at the issues of chemical pollution and how we can tackle it more effectively. We recognise the serious concerns at Tideswell brook. Through o…”

“This situation baffles me. It seems simple to me that bonuses should reflect performance, and if performance is not good enough, people should not get a bonus. I am not sure why that seems so difficult to understand. It is not just about the letter of the law, but about the spirit of the law. Ofwat has exposed serious …”

“The Conservative Government allowed millions of pounds to be diverted from essential investment and used for unjustified bonuses. We are clear that executive pay must reflect company performance, and support Ofwat’s plan to consult on requiring companies to report publicly the details of all executive remuneration.”

“I share my hon. Friend’s concern about the ability of so many people in both our constituencies to afford water bills. That is why, over the next five years, water companies are going to be doubling the number of people getting help through social tariffs. We have also reformed WaterSure, which provides support to peop…”

“The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I am a huge champion of water meters, which not only help with bills but help reduce people’s water use. In turn, that helps with abstraction, especially in areas where we have many chalk streams. I am very keen to look at what more can be done in that space. Ofwat has a water efficie…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) for securing this important debate. I have enjoyed sitting through a debate in which there has been so much love for previous Labour policy, because, of course, it was the Labour party that introduced …”

“At the moment we have a system where there is divergence because the previous Government after Brexit set their own system. As Marc explained and illustrated, this has meant that as the EU has added chemicals to the candidate list, the authorisation list, the restriction list, there has been divergence over time. We ha…”

“As Marc illustrated, we will consult on exactly how that divergence model is going to work. Of course, to reassure the Committee, the environmental factor is hugely important. I am yet to see—of all the many, many people I have spoken to who supported Brexit—anybody who thinks the reason to leave the European Union was…”

“Do you want to explain all this in detail, Marc?”

“It designates a substance of very high concern so I will push back gently on that. When it comes to EA funding, again I do want to reiterate to the Committee that it is this Government that increased funding to the EA by £188 million this year after the previous Government slashed it dramatically down to its lowest lev…”

“Thank you, Chair. Putting chemicals on the candidate list is not a mere signal to the industry. Putting chemicals on the candidate list is more than a mere signal that we might do something about it.”

“I am happy to explain.”

“I am sorry; I disagree with you. I think the candidate list—”

“You are right. The candidate list is a list of chemicals that we have high concern about. This is where I differ from the previous Government. The previous Government were only looking to consider putting things on the candidate list if they were going to move it into the authorisation list, and what this has meant in …”

“Again, I probably have not explained it very well. We are not going to ban individual PFAS. There are different ways of grouping them. Perhaps Marc, with his scientific knowledge, could explain how the different ones are grouped, which might help illustrate it. We are not talking about an individual one because there a…”

“We are changing the system when it comes to UK REACH, absolutely. We are changing the way in which we identify and restrict the use of certain chemicals for UK REACH so we are changing that system. That will make it quicker and easier for us to add chemicals to the authorisation list or restriction list and we are doin…”