Speeches by Dollimore.

“I will make some progress, because I know that we need to make progress in the debate. In conclusion, I thank the Minister for her work on bringing the Bill before the House so quickly. I know that this is just the start of the change that we need to deliver on our water companies. This Government are acting where the …”

“During the debate, we have heard a lot of words from the Opposition parties, but we had very little action during their 14 years in Government. We on the Government Benches have raised clear examples pointed out by Ofwat where it has not had the necessary tools to ban bonuses when it wanted to do so with Southern Water…”

“Does my hon. Friend share my horror at our current situation, in which constituents are getting ear and eye infections from swimming in the sea or rivers? One constituent of mine even attributes their deafness in one ear to an infection they got in the sea. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill is desperately needed …”

“In the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, we took evidence from the chief executive of Ofwat, who was clear that the bonus that the boss of Southern Water, Lawrence Gosden, received this year would not have been paid had the previous Conservative Government brought the measures in this Bill before the House…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I thank the Minister for all her work in introducing this Bill so quickly in the new Parliament. It is a Bill that my constituents in Hastings and Rye desperately need. As I have said many times in this House, our constituency of Hastings, Rye and the villages has suffered hugely at the hands of Southern Water. Litres …”

“I think Opposition Members are slightly confused about the record of the Government of the past 14 years, of which both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives were a part at different points. My constituents in Hastings, Rye and the villages would find the hon. Gentleman’s assertion that the last Government fixed …”

“I am yet to hear an apology from the Conservatives for their failure to put monitors on any outlet in my constituency, their failure to make those monitors report to Government at all, and their failure to address the severity of the sewage scandal that has caused so much disruption for my constituents, for local busin…”

“I really welcome the measures in the Bill to ensure that the many children being home-schooled have all the support they need to get back into mainstream education. I was extremely concerned to find out that in the last academic year, 800 children in Hastings were being home-schooled—that is one in 16 children, or 27 c…”

“Today we have rightly heard a lot from Members in all parts of the House about the desperate need to get more aid into Gaza—an issue that many of our constituents are concerned about and that the Government are rightly working very hard to address. One of the most disturbing trends in this conflict is the huge number o…”

“Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. May I welcome this record investment in our hospices from the Labour Government? The Conservative Government had 14 years to do that, but they shirked that responsibility. Will the Minister join me in thanking the amazing staff and volunteers at Saint Michael’s Hospice and Demelza hospice i…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for the work he and his Department are doing to change the compensation rules so that when these incidents happen, my constituents get higher levels of compensation—something that the Conservatives had 14 years to do, but failed to do. Had they acted in that time, my residents would not b…”

“I declare an interest as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water pollution. Today, we will vote on a landmark piece of legislation to begin the clean-up of our water industry. The measures in the Bill ramp up regulation, ban bosses’ bonuses and ensure independent monitors on every sewage outlet, linked t…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. One of the things in the Bill that I really welcome is that it will stop water companies marking their own homework. The monitors on every outlet will report independently to the Government, so that we can issue automatic severe fines—a big change and step forward. If huge …”

“Will the right hon. Lady give way?”

“Queensway Gateway in my constituency is known as the “road to nowhere” because it has been left unfinished for over a decade, so my constituents in Hastings and Rye were delighted that the Labour Government confirmed more than £2.5 million to finish the road. However, Conservative-run East Sussex county council has let…”

“We know from the evidence Arun has submitted that 56% of those qualifying for APR under the current regime had not received any income from farming in the last five years. Do you think that reflects very wealthy individuals who are not genuinely farming and paying for very expensive legal advice in order to take advant…”

“Would you welcome changes in the area of the big supermarkets and how they conduct themselves?”

“One of the big issues that has been raised with me by a local farm in my constituency, which was growing potatoes for hundreds of years and then stopped last year, is the big supermarkets. They simply cannot compete with the way that the big supermarkets are running their procurement, and the prices that they are payin…”

“Just before I bring in Tom on the wider sector issues, you touched on that issue around who is owning the land. If you look at the top 10 recipients of subsidies from DEFRA in recent years, many of the people on that list often are a surprise. For example, Oxbridge Colleges or huge multinationals. Do you think that is …”