Speeches by Reed.

“I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “House” to end and insert “recognises that the Government inherited a broken water system, with record levels of sewage being pumped into waterways; welcomes the Government’s rapid delivery of its promise to put water companies under tough special measures through the landm…”

“I hope that the right hon. and learned Lady will work with the Government and support the reforms we are bringing forward to improve the functioning and performance of the water sector and all the water companies up and down the country, so that we can prevent the kind of concerns she speaks about. Let us look at the r…”

“As my hon. Friend will have seen, we have already passed the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, which gives the regulators more teeth to enforce against the polluting water companies. We look forward to Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review for the Independent Water Commission; we will get the interim report next month and the fin…”

“With the greatest respect, the hon. Lady’s party had 14 years to take action, and did nothing. Although I am grateful to the Liberal Democrats for calling this debate, and I think there are many points of similarity between our approaches, I must gently point to some of the opportunities they missed to take action when…”

“I do not think that decisions taken by the coalition Government were the fault of the previous Labour Government. I am merely gently pointing out that the Liberal Democrats did have a chance to reset regulation in the way that this Government are now doing. Where they offer their support for that work, I am grateful fo…”

“The hon. Gentleman makes a very powerful case for why reform is so desperately needed. My condolences to the owner of the dog—that is a terrible thing to happen to anybody.”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am angry about the bill rises, as she is. I am sure that Members on both sides of the House are angry about them, but in a very real sense, people are being forced to pay the price for 14 years of Conservative failure. Previous Governments let the sewage scandal spread; this Govern…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right, which is why we have given the regulator new powers through the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025. The Conservative party could have done so at any point during its 14 years in power, but at no point did it take that common-sense action. We passed that landmark piece of legislation, …”

“I recognise the catastrophe that the hon. Member is talking about. It is not just that the water is polluted; the water becomes toxic, and it is killing ecosystems and damaging the wider environment. Those are all reasons that we need to move ahead quickly with the reforms that this Government are working towards.”

“I will give way two more times and then I had better make some progress, or Madam Deputy Speaker will chastise me as she chastised the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale.”

“The hon. Member makes an important point. One issue that Sir Jon Cunliffe and the water commission are looking at is how we can increase accountability and responsiveness directly to customers and, indeed, to authorities such as the parish councils he has just talked about. I would be happy to arrange a meeting for him…”

“I know the River Ver very well; I used to walk past it every day on my way to primary school at the Abbey primary school at the bottom of the abbey orchard. I would be happy to make sure that the hon. Lady gets a meeting with the appropriate Minister to raise those points. The additional new resources that our reforms …”

“The right hon. Gentleman is entirely right, and I have asked Sir Jon Cunliffe to consider measures that we could implement to start to address that and, indeed, wider issues involving nutrient neutrality in our waterways.”

“I will make some progress, because I do not want to take up too much of the debate. Last month the Water Minister and I toured the country to see where and how the investment will be spent—from Windermere to the Wye, from Hampshire to Yorkshire, and to Suffolk, Northumbria and Somerset. In Windermere, we are working wi…”

“We have already started doing it, yes.”

“This will have to work for rural communities as well. We have set up a rural taskforce bringing together a whole range of stakeholders from the sector and across Government to make sure that happens. What is needed is investment in appropriate infrastructure, and I am sure there will be more announcements made over the…”

“Generally. The economy has flatlined for over a decade and nature has still been in retreat, so clearly the approaches that were being taken were not working.”

“No.”

“I guess it is the same with any international gathering of that kind. You always hope it will deliver the max. The reality is that in tough negotiations, compromises inevitably must be made. I thought what was positive was the leading role that the UK played at COP16. I lost count of the number of times that representa…”

“Again, I could be concerned about what they are doing, and we can use our relationships to try to encourage them to do better as we would see it, but it is not within my gift to make them. What I am responsible for as part of this Government is making sure that our Government meet their commitments. We remain committed…”