Water Bill

As is often remarked, Wales is the land of mountains and valleys, and of lakes and rivers. It is ...

I am listening to the hon. Gentleman’s speech with great interest. When the water industry was es...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He anticipates my next points, though he is welc...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on making a powerful case for the full devolution of Welsh water re...

My hon. Friend makes a telling point that I shall refer to later: there is no centre ground on th...

The hon. Gentleman rightly referred to the Capel Celyn situation—I remember it from many years ag...

That is an interesting point. At every turn, when further devolution is proposed, right hon. and ...

The hon. Member for Cardiff North (Jonathan Evans) might have noticed over the summer that the Si...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that further point, however disappointed we both might be wit...

Does the hon. Gentleman’s new clause imply that the Welsh Assembly could stop water coming into E...

The hon. Gentleman anticipates my next point: it is a matter for the Welsh Government to decide w...

I am following the hon. Gentleman’s speech with genuine interest. If water is abstracted from the...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. As I said, the agreement with Severn Trent preda...

The hon. Gentleman mentioned fracking, which could well be a growth business in Wales as in Engla...

The hon. Gentleman makes a fine point. That would be the case if, say, Northumbrian Water sells t...

Considering the clear position of the Labour Welsh Government, does my hon. Friend share my surpr...

Alas, I am not surprised at all by the complete lack of Labour MPs from Wales in the Chamber. The...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Arfon (Hywel Williams), who moved his amendment so...

The hon. Lady is without doubt an expert in these matters, given her role on the Select Committee...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her good services to the all-party group, where we serve as fe...

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh). I see in the nation...

The hon. Gentleman has been a consistent if sometimes lonely voice on this issue for a great many...

I have heard the argument about infrastructure investment doubling since privatisation, but what ...

Let me pursue the point about South West Water. There is no doubt that it has made dramatic inroa...

I agree that significant investment has been made in the infrastructure, but the problem is that ...

I am sure the hon. Gentleman would agree that the level of investment would be even higher if all...

That is one reason why I support the Welsh model of a not-for-profit company, because, as I say, ...

My hon. Friend mentioned Severn Trent Water. Given the pollution incidents involving water compan...

The drive for profits is making these companies ignore their duty towards the wider environment, ...

I promise not to intervene again, but I cannot resist doing so now. Does the hon. Gentleman’s res...

Order. Interventions are supposed to be brief. If the hon. Gentleman wants to make a defence of t...

Former Ministers need an element of retraining, so may I say to the hon. Gentleman that he can in...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this can be clearly seen in Welsh Water’s response to the cryp...

Competition and privatisation have not worked, which is why I do not think that the Bill, the mai...

May I take this opportunity, Madam Deputy Speaker, to wish you and all hon. Members a happy new y...

Any company that is prepared to invest £1 million in improving the provision of water to Filey ha...

I do not want to get sidetracked by a debate about the merits of privatisation—I think you would ...

I start by echoing the remarks of the Opposition spokesman, the hon. Member for Dunfermline and W...

Would the Minister be so kind as to inform the House of the situation in terms of the geographica...

The hon. Gentleman sets out his aspirations quite clearly by viewing the boundary between Wales a...

The Minister is well aware of the new clause’s implications for devolution. Does he agree that su...

I thank my hon. Friend for his helpful intervention. He has somewhat pre-empted the remarks I was...

I wish you a happy new year, Mr Deputy Speaker. Given that new clause 2 specifies that the proces...

We are very clear that we look at such issues strategically across the whole market, rather than ...

I fear that the Minister is confusing two different issues. Undoubtedly, competition in itself ha...

I certainly was not seeking to suggest that the market is not working in Scotland. My point was t...

Is the Minister satisfied that United Utilities, which supplies water to the north-west, is forec...

The hon. Gentleman is referring to the current price review period, but we are about to enter a n...

Would the Minister put his mortgage on United Utilities, Pennon and Severn Trent not increasing t...

I suspect that they would not welcome my mortgage, given the debts that they are already dealing ...

I do not often applaud water companies, but Affinity Water, which serves large parts of my part o...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. As he is not always an enthusiast for what water co...

The Minister talks about fair deals between water companies. Is he satisfied with the terms for t...

The hon. Gentleman is tempting me to get into the specifics of individual companies. The framewor...

Given that one of the key objectives of the Bill is to increase the resilience of the water secto...

My hon. Friend and predecessor is a great advocate of ensuring that we have a far more resilient ...

To refer once again to Affinity Water, its business plan for the five-year period from 2015-16 to...

My hon. Friend is an astute and fearless challenger of all authorities, whether they be in the pr...

The Minister probably has first-day-back blues. I refer him to Opposition new clause 11, which wo...

The hon. Gentleman hopes that his new clause would require further reports to be made to the Secr...

We have had an interesting debate, and I was glad to hear the contributions of the Chair of the E...

The hon. Gentleman should have intervened on me if he was concerned that I had not covered his ne...

My hon. Friend the Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) asks from a sedentary pos...

And we missed you.

The shadow Minister is very kind. I was disappointed to have missed those sittings, and I apologi...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 7—National affordabili...

I wish to consider new clause 3 and amendment 9, which seek to address legislation already on the...

To help the House, will my hon. Friend explain what kind of information she would like to see tra...

I hope that my right hon. Friend will bear with me as I take the House through it.

In the E...

I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year, Mr Deputy Speaker.

I welcome the thought...

The hon. Gentleman is always kind enough to remind me repeatedly, so I fear I can never forget an...

It is always a good thing to be a charitable and giving soul, so I do my best to try to accommoda...

Average figures are exactly that—average. There are, of course, water companies that underperform...

I know that you are a fan of all things Yorkshire, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I will come on to Yorks...

I understand, and sympathise with, the point the hon. Gentleman is making, but there is no legal ...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who I think is a recent addition to the Select Committee. I ...

I fully agree with what the hon. Gentleman is trying to do, but I share the concern of my hon. Fr...

I have huge respect for the right hon. Gentleman and his knowledge, but we are clear that, as the...

The hon. Gentleman has set out how the burden of pursuit would fall on the water companies, but o...

I congratulate the Minister on stating the blindingly obvious. Of course, the landlord would have...

I want to make some brief comments that were too long for an intervention, particularly about new...

I hope that the Government will look at the issue of unpaid bills. Colleagues of all parties are ...

Given that it is the water industry itself that is pressing for this power relating to landlord i...

It may or may not be. I do not have a very high opinion of the success of the water industry in t...

The hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty) has proposed a number of new clau...

I refer the Minister to the evidence session during the eighth sitting of the Public Bill Committ...

The hon. Gentleman is, as always, keen to assist. What I said comes entirely from my recollection...

I am grateful, but on this occasion it is perhaps the Minister who should have paid more attentio...

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s views on social tariffs, which he feels have not been introduce...

My understanding is that the water companies made larger profits because the period of very low i...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He is absolutely right to point out that what is pro...

I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, but before he concludes his remarks he must ...

The Chair of the Select Committee is quite right that I have yet to respond to that aspect of her...

I am grateful to the Minister and am listening carefully to what he says. He will, I am sure, com...

We should at least allow the database to be set up and give it a chance to operate. That would se...

I remind the Minister that our scheme would not involve cross-subsidisation. I am surprised that ...

I am seeking to point out that there are a range of benefits and a range of circumstances for peo...

We have had a fruitful debate, but I express my disappointment that my hon. Friend the Minister h...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: new clause 5 —Abstraction reform—