Water Industry

I thank my hon. Friend for his customary generosity.

I will turn to the pressures that hard...

I, too, pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work he has done to bring the issue to light. In re...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Certainly a better deal needs to be driven for the ...

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on all his fine work on the water industry. Would he care to ...

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Ensuring that we have investment in the infrastructure tha...

In view of the hon. Gentleman’s commitment to the issue, I hope that he will confirm that the onl...

rose—

Then they went back up again.

Then they went back up again, as my hon. Friend remarks. Under the previous Government the water ...

My hon. Friend wisely talks about infrastructure. One of my concerns regarding the east and south...

My hon. Friend makes exactly the right point. In my constituency, in Dover and Deal in east Kent,...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. We have heard a lot about people having pr...

That is true. In some parts of the country we have too much water and in some parts too little. I...

We do not need to move water around from one place to another; we need to build more reservoirs s...

My hon. Friend is a passionate advocate for more reservoirs. Reservoirs are not only important fo...

I am glad that my hon. Friend is going to talk about the need for competition to provide better q...

My right hon. Friend makes an interesting point. The planning system obviously means that such th...

My hon. Friend will be aware that the Water Bill will make it easy for new entrants to do precise...

Indeed. That will be an important reform.

Let me move on to the reforms that are worth cons...

One of the key problems is that constituents at the bottom end of the income scale have over many...

My hon. Friend makes an important point, but I will leave it to my hon. Friend the Member for Sou...

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has pointed out some of the problems in the industry and with t...

Clearly, the billing system needs to be fair.

The issue about debt is that water companies ...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for mentioning the tideway tunnel, because my constituents in Wyc...

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Time denies me the opportunity to go into the issue in gre...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way; he is being extremely generous with his time. Doe...

Very much so. I and, I am sure, many other Members would argue that Ofwat should have a stronger ...

Although, clearly, much more needs to be done in the industry to ensure a better balance of risk ...

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point, which Ministers will no doubt take on board. This Governme...

I congratulate the Members who secured this welcome debate.

Until recently, there had been ...

That is exactly the problem. Our water companies are lousy at collecting water. When it is at its...

The next word in my notes is “reservoirs”. Every substantial reservoir that the water companies u...

I stand to be corrected, but I understand that only 1% of rainfall is captured for domestic use. ...

God knows; it would depend on when, if the hon. Gentleman sees what I mean.

The bulk of the...

Does the right hon. Gentleman concede that the pipe network that the nationalised industry put in...

That is certainly true. Until 1995, Ministers from all parties accepted the statement by the wate...

What was it in gallons?

In 1995, 826 million gallons of water per day were leaking out of the water companies’ pipes. Acc...

Has the right hon. Gentleman made any assessment of the effect on bills if there were not the exc...

I cannot really do that as I have only just come back to looking at the water industry from the t...

I read one or two historical documents on water management before I came to the Chamber. I believ...

That might be the case, but the statement was not made in my name, put it that way. When I was re...

The right hon. Gentleman says that the previous policy was not in his name. Does his party leader...

My understanding is that the party’s policy—no doubt it will be enunciated in due course from the...

The percentage is not that high. Nevertheless, does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the previ...

It is no good me saying that the previous Government’s record was as good as it ought to have bee...

The right hon. Gentleman has just criticised spending £2.5 billion on water meters as a luxury we...

These industries are pleading poverty all the time, so it would not be all that expensive. The co...

It is a great pleasure to take part in a debate from the Back Benches for the first time in a few...

When the hon. Gentleman was talking to the new boss of Ofwat, did he draw to his attention the ma...

Like the right hon. Gentleman, I am keen that everybody pay the required tax, but I caution peopl...

I shall expand a little on my hon. Friend’s comments on the role of water companies in dealing wi...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. The Government are right to deal with the connection to privat...

I seem to recall that the Select Committee, of which the former water Minister was a member, crit...

The Select Committee produced many good things with which I agree. If that is what it said at the...

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s work as a Minister. He is speaking passionately about the White...

I shall talk about debt and gearing shortly, and I think my hon. Friend will find me in agreement...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Very briefly.

I have been listening carefully to the arguments on both sides of the debate. Why does the hon. G...

We want to see in England the virtue of the competition from which the hon. Gentleman’s constitue...

rose—

I will not give way again because many other Members wish to speak and I want to say something ab...

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), who spoke with...

When we debated this, I was the one who said, “You must have competition and you can have competi...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that, and his role in all this back in the late 1980s m...

I heard the hon. Gentleman making this argument earlier on the BBC. For the interest of the House...

Disconnection is very much a last resort. We need to make sure that we do not put off consumers f...

I am most grateful for that half-explanation. Does the hon. Gentleman accept that unless there is...

I do not follow that argument; it does not apply in other sectors and I do not see why it needs t...

My hon. Friend is completely right to reject the outrageous suggestion made by shadow Minister th...

I hope that this debate will continue in a spirit of looking to the long-term future of the indus...

What does my hon. Friend suggest that London does with its faeces if we do not put them into the ...

I am not saying that there is not a problem, but that there are alternative ways of dealing with ...

I congratulate my hon. Friend and his colleagues on securing the debate. Does he also agree that ...

My hon. Friend is right to suggest that the breakdown of the arithmetic for individuals does not ...

Would my hon. Friend care to elaborate on that for those who call for nationalisation? Is it not ...

My hon. Friend is right that the problem would probably be considerably worse had we left things ...

It is a pleasure to see you taking up your new duties, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Monopoly is th...

My right hon. Friend, as always, is speaking in an impassioned way about the merits of competitio...

I would do it straight away. I cannot see what the problem is. If water is a natural monopoly, as...

I am extremely grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your generosity in allowing me to speak in thi...

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to this debate and hate to interrupt his complimentary remarks about...

What a fantastic set-up for the speech I am about to give, which is about the Government’s record...

rose—

I am happy to take an intervention from the former water Minister.

I hesitate to rise, because I could just sit here and enjoy the hon. Gentleman’s speech. He and I...

The hon. Gentleman makes a passionate defence of his own record in post.

Let us look at som...

I think I am right in saying that the previous Labour Government were in power for 13 years and I...

Why not start with the three reviews that led to the water White Paper? The Pitt, Walker and Cave...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I think I am right in saying that it was only under...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we look at the price review periods since privatisation, w...

We have moved on a little, but the hon. Gentleman has graciously given way. He is doing a good jo...

Intense flooding has major implications and climate change means that it will happen more regular...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the last Labour Government did nothing on social tariffs?

No, that is not the case. The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 created the legislative framewo...

Just to clarify, did the hon. Gentleman say that we need a national water grid to move water arou...

I am happy to clarify that. I was saying that the idea of a national water grid is stillborn, pur...

I would like to go further in the debate and mention some of the powers that I think the water in...

Brigg and Goole.

I cannot believe I forgot the name of my hon. Friend’s constituency, but there we go. Like his co...

Surely Yorkshire Water has access to a device that will identify where the aforesaid kink is and ...

One would have thought so, and I have had meetings about that. Unfortunately, Yorkshire Water is ...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Madam Deputy Speaker; I wel...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Before I give way, I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman for the work he did from the Opposition Fr...

That is incredibly generous of the right hon. Gentleman. I am just checking I am not dead—people ...

I apologise if I phrased my remarks as if to suggest that the hon. Gentleman was the former Membe...

Does the right hon. Gentleman not agree that it would be ludicrous to expect the British taxpayer...

I take a similarly hard line on this issue. If Thames Water does not have the money in its own co...

The debate has been interesting, with more contributions from Government than Opposition Members—...

The cost of living is a major issue in Yorkshire, as it is across the rest of the country. I ther...

May I urge the hon. Gentleman not to use the word “earns”, because it has a sensation that they d...

The right hon. Gentleman’s intervention is very accurate.

Those highly paid—highly compensa...

These figures are incredible. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that these people are being pa...

I absolutely do, because the situation is a kick in the teeth from Yorkshire Water to hard-workin...

I am grateful for the opportunity to respond to the debate on behalf of the Opposition, Madam Dep...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not, because there were so many speakers and we have very little time for the Minister to ...

This has been a fascinating debate. Contrary to what the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fif...

rose—

The hon. Gentleman did not take interventions, so I shall follow his lead and try to respond to s...

rose—

I will not give way. I accept what the right hon. Gentleman says about what he considers simple p...

indicated dissent.

I am pleased to see that is not something the hon. Gentleman wants, because we certainly do not.<...

This has been an excellent debate. In particular, we heard a very fine speech by my hon. Friend t...

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. In the past hour the BBC has been reporting more than ...

As the hon. Lady will know, that is not a point of order. If she wants to pursue the matter, I am...