Water Industry

My hon. Friend and the trade union movement in general have pointed that out on a number of occas...

Does my hon. Friend agree that this is an excellent opportunity to bring consumers into the conve...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I will come on to how mutuals would allow customers to have a ...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for bringing this debate. Ofwat imposes no penalties on managers who b...

The hon. Gentleman makes an extremely good point. Given that we are in the middle of the latest p...

The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful case against the water companies. The issue of leakage se...

I find myself in the slightly unusual position of agreeing almost completely with the hon. Lady. ...

If hon. Members check my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, they will see tha...

I am enjoying the trip to Venezuela that the right hon. Gentleman is taking us on. May I draw him...

I can come on to talk about suggestions that I think have some virtue, particularly employee shar...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that water companies are already getting involved in good environ...

As water Minister, I pushed the concept of payment for ecosystem services, which was against Ofwa...

I meant to mention an excellent project I have visited. Upstream Thinking, run by South West Wate...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to mention that project, which was initially developed around ...

The right hon. Gentleman’s points are similar to those brought to my attention by Anglian Water, ...

There has absolutely been bad practice. I have had my concerns about Thames Water in the past, bu...

I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman would comment on two things. The first is the National ...

I do not know the circumstances in Scotland, so I can only speculate, but that is another country...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

Let me just finish this point. A recent ComRes survey shows that 86% of customers trust their wat...

Does my right hon. Friend think that there is still a role for customers in reducing their water ...

Yes, we need to do more. When compared with other European countries, we are absolute laggards: w...

It is a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), who has disp...

A £5 note is on its way.

I do not know whether that is a “thank you” or a bet.

I will speak briefly, but perhaps a l...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. Polls are often cited to say that an enormous percent...

It does, but obviously if a Labour Government went down that road, they would then have assets on...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Mem...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Gray. First, I thank my hon. Friend from my na...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I give way to the right hon. Gentleman, who I am sure will defend privatisation.

I am very fond of the hon. Gentleman. He and I agree on other things, but I cannot resist respond...

I was not completely embodying all the faults in the right hon. Gentleman’s arguments. To repeat ...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Gray. I do not have long, so I cannot dwell to...

One thing I know about Scottish Water is that its leakage level is way above that of the rest of ...

It is interesting. We are, of course, spending considerable amounts of money on addressing that. ...

Far be it from me to help the Scottish National party out, but as I understand it, from analysis ...

I was quite surprised by the contribution made by the right hon. Member for Newbury, as that is n...

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow West (Gareth Thomas). As a Labour and Co-oper...

Can the hon. Gentleman give us a taster of those policies by saying whether he will compensate sh...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that. As his intervention came only on page 1 of my 12-page ...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ha...

The Minister is making an extremely good point. People in the south-west had been pleading for ye...

My right hon. Friend is correct, and that has been considered. The balance is very important. How...

Will the Minister comment on two points? I mentioned in an earlier intervention that, since Scott...

I am not aware that I have the power to direct Ofwat on exactly how it comes up with its cost of ...

I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee, to you, Mr Gray, for chairing the debate, and ...