ANGELA RAYNER'S COLUMN: 'Water companies are failing to deliver for their customers and the environment, and the public has rightly had enough

This week I would like to discuss water bills, water ownership and regulation of the water industry.  

I appreciate this issue is causing widespread concern. Water companies are failing to deliver for their customers and the environment, and the public has rightly had enough. 

I share customers’ anger at the scale of water bill rises to fix a lack of investment in water infrastructure. 

I believe the problems we are facing with water companies and the bitter pill of higher water bills have arisen because the last Government weakened regulation, failed to invest in infrastructure and allowed water bosses to take millions of pounds in bonuses while pumping record levels of sewage into our waters. 

I am therefore proud to have been elected on a manifesto that pledged to put failing water companies under special measures to clean up our waters. 

I am committed to giving regulators new powers to block the payment of bonuses to executives who pollute our waterways and bring criminal charges against persistent law breakers, as well as to imposing automatic and severe fines for wrongdoing, and ensuring independent monitoring of every outlet.  

I welcome that my Government is already taking action to deliver on this commitment, with the introduction of the Water (Special Measures) Bill to Parliament last September. 

I also welcome that the Bill comes in addition to the action that my Government took immediately on coming into office, through measures to ensure that funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced; that water companies will place customers and the environment at the heart of their objectives in their company rules; that compensation for households and businesses when basic water services are affected will be doubled; and that powerful new customer panels will be able to hold water company bosses to account. 

I believe the measures this Labour Government is taking will strengthen the enforcement regime and make clear that we will not tolerate poor performance across the water sector.  

Change will take time, but I strongly support the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is currently being scrutinised by the House of Commons, and further steps to fundamentally transform how our water industry is run and restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.