PLANS to allow water firms to increase bills yet again, despite decades of mismanagement and ongoing pollution, were condemned by campaigners today.
Five firms are set to raise charges by up to 5 per cent above the limits initially set by regulator Ofwat.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed that Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Wessex Water have been permitted to hike their tariffs following an appeal.
The firms argued that Ofwat’s original decision left them unable to meet the regulatory requirements set out for them.
It follows a ruling in December, in which Southern had already been allowed to increase bills by 53 per cent over the next five years.
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Kirstin Baker, who chaired the independent group of experts appointed by the CMA to consider the price controls, said that the request for significant bill increases were “largely unjustified.”
River Action CEO James Wallace said: “Once again, water bill payers are forced to shoulder the cost of decades of failure.
“Millions of households in England face higher bills while rivers continue to suffer from mismanagement by privatised water companies.
April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
A F35 aircraft prepares to land at RAF Marham, Norfolk
APALESTINIAN human rights group announced today that it is appealing against a High Court ruling on Britain’s arms exports to Israel.
Al-Haq has been engaged in a long legal battle against the Department for Business and Trade, challenging the export of parts for lethal F-35 jets.
In July, the High Court rejected the challenge and ruled that it was for Parliament and not the court to decide whether the decision to continue the exports breached Britain’s international legal obligations.
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A hearing will now be held at the Court of Appeal on October 9.
Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin said: “If the UK courts are unwilling to hold the government accountable for arming Israel during the deadliest phase of its genocide to date, who will?
“The court’s findings set a dangerous precedent and risk undermining the legal mechanisms designed to ensure government accountability.”
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Private Eye magazine has reported that Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, is close to winning a £2 billion contract that would make it a “strategic partner” of the Ministry of Defence.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Extinction Rebellion activists protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice against the long sentences handed out to climate activists, March 7, 2025
Just six years cut from 41-year jail sentence for Just Stop Oil activists
THIRTY people turned their backs on judges today to reveal T-shirts reading “corruption in court,” after it was announced that only six years would be shaved off a 41-year prison sentence for climate protesters involved in peaceful action.
In January, a rare mass appeal was held for 16 Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters who were handed the draconian sentences last year.
Today, only six of them saw their sentences reduced in a ruling that has been condemned as having “no place in a democracy that upholds the right to protest.”
Among them were the “Whole Truth Five,” who sparked outrage after being given record-breaking sentences for “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance” after organising a protest on the M25 over Zoom.
JSO founder Roger Hallam, who was handed the longest sentence, five years, saw his jail time reduced to four.
Cressia Gethin, Louise Lancaster, Daniel Shaw and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, who were originally handed four years each, saw their sentences moderately cut to between 2.5 and three years.
The only other protester who saw a reduction was 78-year old Gaie Delap, whose sentence for participating in an M25 protest was cut from 20 to 18 months.
All 16 protesters had been taking part in non-violent actions calling on the government stop issuing new oil and gas licences, a demand which has now been met.
Among the challenges thrown out were that of Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, who were sentenced to two years and 20 months for throwing soup on glass covering Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
After the ruling, Ms Plummer said in a statement that Britain’s democracy is being “sold off to the highest bidder,” with the nation’s courts “corrupted by the oil and arms industries.”
The harsh sentences were imposed last year after now-sacked extremism adviser Lord Walney released a report agitating for tougher punishments on activists while pocketing money from arms and fossil fuel companies as a paid lobbyist.
At today’s ruling, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr acknowledged that “conscientious motivation” was a “factor relevant to sentencing in each case,” but that this “did not preclude a finding that any appellant’s culpability was still high.”
Last year, in cases such as the Whole Truth Five, activists were repeatedly prevented from talking about climate change during trial.
The claimants’ lawyer, Raj Chada, said his team would be reviewing the judgement and considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)
Over a thousand people took part in a peaceful demonstration blocking the road outside the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday. Inside, the appeal against the draconian sentences given to 16 Just Stop Oil supporters last year is continuing. The mass appeal concerns 16 supporters with combined sentences of 41 years handed down between July and September 2024.
All 16 Just Stop Oil supporters were jailed in the months following the publication of a report to the government written by ‘Lord Walney’, a paid lobbyist for the oil and arms industry that called for groups such as Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action to be banned in a similar way to terrorist organisations.
Police arrested at least one before the demonstration. Another was arrested after the protest ended. Celebrities such as Chris Packham, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jonathan Pie could be seen peacefully blocking the road in defiance of swarms of police. Meanwhile, solidarity demonstrations have occurred in countries around the world, including Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand.
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
We are deeply grateful to the 1,000 peaceful protestors who turned up at the Royal Courts of Justice to show solidarity with Just Stop Oil supporters appealing their sentences. They know that our broken political system is on trial today. This case is not about whether peaceful climate defenders deserve to be punished with long prison sentences. It is about whether it is acceptable in a democracy to allow wealthy fossil fuel executives and paid lobbyists, presented as ‘independent’ government advisors, to dictate our laws, pervert our criminal justice system and silence all opposition to destructive business practices.
Just Stop Oil supporters in prison are political prisoners. They are not there because they disrupted or harmed everyday people – if that were the case, the water company bosses, Post Office execs and those responsible for the Grenfell disaster would be behind bars. Our supporters are in prison because Just Stop Oil threatens the profits of the fossil fuel industry.
We say to the government you can lock us up but more people will take our place as the extreme consequences of climate breakdown become more apparent. These 16 were jailed after demanding an end to new oil and gas, something which is now government policy. Just today, a Scottish court has found the development of the largest untapped oil and gas reserves in the UK is unlawful. In other words, Just Stop Oil is right. This is something that will continue to be abundantly clear as this crisis unfolds. We must ensure our leaders are held to account and do the right thing. That is why it is important to step-up and join us outside parliament this April.
Yesterday in the Court of Appeal, Danny Friedman KC and Brenda Campbell KC acting for the appellants argued that the sentences passed down on the 16 Just Stop Oil supporters were unlawful. In particular the sentences did not take account of relevant case law, the conscientious motivations of the Just Stop Oil supporters, their rights under articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the UK’s obligations under the Aarhus convention. The appeal is being heard by Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Griffiths.
The barristers acting for the appellants said that if these sentences were upheld it would represent a “paradigm shift on criminal law sentencing”. Those involved in the miners strike, the anti-fascist protests in the 1930s and even Swampy in the 1990s, did not face the kind of sentences that the nonviolent protesters today face.
Many of the 16 are in prison under the Public Order Act, legislation that was drafted with the aid of the Policy Exchange. This organisation has received funding from Exxon Mobil, one of the world’s largest oil companies, which has a long history of science denialism and funding disinformation, bribing politicians and manipulating media discourse. This legislation did not receive parliamentary assent, and was forced into law using special powers from the time of Henry VIII. This was subsequently found to be unlawful.
MORE THAN 50 activists plan to march from HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, to the Royal Courts of Justice, Westminster, where 16 climate activists will appeal against their draconian prison sentences tomorrow [today].
The Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists were jailed for a combined 41 years for taking non-violent action to call for an end to reliance on fossil fuels.
The sentences include five years imposed on JSO founder Roger Hallam for organising a protest over Zoom, and two years given to Phoebe Plummer after she threw soup on glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
Last year, then UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders Michel Forst condemned the use of legislation such as the Public Order Act and civil injunctions to criminalise peaceful protests.
When Mr Hallam and four others were jailed for organising a protest on the M25, Mr Forst described it as a dark day for “anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms” in Britain.
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Steve Scott-Robson a 63-year-old father and educator joining the walk said: “I applaud loudly the spirit of these 16 activists, and I am grateful to them for their brave and defiant actions.
“It is an utter abomination that the country that has benefited from industrialisation first — and therefore longest — is the country in Europe that has the harshest legislation aimed at environmental activists.”
A water bill from Southern Water
