England’s private water firms are under fire once again today, after reports that they could be set to raise bills by as much as 40%. The touted rise comes as the water industry faces significant pressure to tackle the scandal of sewage being pumped into waterways.
Private companies currently operate thousands of sewer overflows which are used to discharge raw sewage into Britain’s rivers and seas. Last year, private water companies released raw sewage into rivers and seas in England for more than 1.75 million hours, with an average of 825 sewage spills per day.
Critics of the water companies argue that they have prioritised providing returns for shareholders, rather than investment in infrastructure that would have tackled the sewage crisis. Since privatisation in 1989, water companies have paid out more than £70 billion to shareholders.
Anti-privatisation campaign group We Own It has branded reports of major bill rises ‘outrageous’, and has called for water to be taken into public ownership. The group’s director Cat Hobbs told Left Foot Forward: “It’s outrageous. We’ve seen decades of underinvestment in our water system, and now we’re expected to foot the bill for infrastructure improvements.
“What have private companies been doing with their enormous profits for the last 34 years? They’ve paid out £72bn in dividends to shareholders. That’s money that could have been reinvested into our infrastructure to prevent the mess we’re in now. Publicly-owned Scottish water spends £72 more per household per year on tackling infrastructure problems.
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)
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has been urged to clamp down on sewage dumping in London’s rivers, as the capital’s water companies have only been prosecuted twice in four years. This comes after data has revealed that 31 of the city’s waterways saw 1,809 combined overflow discharges, resulting in raw sewage being pumped into London’s rivers and streams for over 7,000 hours in 2022.
A freedom of information request sent by the Liberal Democrats to the Environment Agency last year revealed that the organisation took action over pollution in London rivers on only eight occasions between 2017 and 2021, and just two incidents resulted in prosecutions.
Mr Khan pledged in July 2020 to reduce water pollution incidents by 30 per cent by 2025. Hina Bokhari AM, the Liberal Dems’ London Assembly environment spokesperson, said: “It is clear from the sheer scale of raw sewage entering London’s waters that the UK Conservative Government has utterly failed to get to grips with this problem. Sewage dumping is endangering human health, our wildlife and our tourism industry across London and the whole country.
At least six senior workers identified as moving jobs between regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency and water companies in Lib Dem investigation
It comes amid widespread concerns around the number of sewage spills in the UK (Photo: Finnbarr Webster/Getty)
There is a “revolving door” of executives between regulators supposed to clamp down on sewage spills and water companies, raising questions about a “conflict of interest”, an investigation has revealed.
At least six senior current industry staff members have been identified as moving jobs between regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency and water firms such as Southern, Northumbrian and South West Water.
It has triggered warnings that regulators could feel “sympathetic to their mates at their former company” or “water company executives who know how to avoid regulations”, and calls for the anti-corruption watchdog Acoba (Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) to investigate.
PROTESTERS will unveil satirical blue plaques in Taunton claiming to “highlight MP’s Rebecca Pow failure to support the tightening of environmental legislation, to regulate the discharges of the water companies”.
Extinction Rebellion said they “will join a national day of action called Dirty Water to highlight the “shocking state of the waterways”.
The plaques will be unveiled on Saturday (January 28) at sites along the River Tone and the event will finish with a piece of Street Theatre in French Weir.
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Reverend Jonathan Morris, a retired priest from the Diocese of Bath and Wells, and a member of Taunton Extinction Rebellion said: “We’ve watched in horror as our rivers and seas have become open sewers since October 2021, when the government, including the Taunton MP Rebecca Pow, voted down a proposal to stop water companies pumping waste directly into our rivers.
“Lords Amendment 45 to the Environment Bill would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.” report Evolve.
“Despite the horrendous environmental impact of the disgusting practice, shortly before the vote, the Conservative Environment Secretary George Eustice recommended to his fellow MPs that they should reject it.”
“And, owing largely to the government’s 80 seat majority, the amendment was indeed defeated – by a margin of 268 MPs to 204.”
For your convenience, Evolve has collated a list of every single MP who voted to allow water companies to continue the horrendous practice of dumping raw sewage into our waterways below. Make sure you contact them or post on your social media to remind them of their duties. It is 2021 not 1988. Water companies which are highly profitable regional monopolies, some even avoiding UK tax, can not be allowed to get away with this for £.
Steve Double (Conservative – St Austell and Newquay) Scott Mann (Conservative – North Cornwall) George Eustice (Conservative – Camborne and Redruth – sewage affecting Godrevy, Portreath, Porthtowan etc) Cherilyn Mackrory (Conservative – Truro and Falmouth – St Agnes, Porthtowan, Falmouth, Perranporth etc) Gary Streeter (Conservative – South West Devon) Robert Goodwill (Conservative – Scarborough and Whitby) Greg Knight (Conservative – East Yorkshire) Jacob Young (Conservative – Redcar) Matt Hancock (Conservative – West Suffolk) James Cartlidge (Conservative – South Suffolk
Alun Cairns (Conservative – Vale of Glamorgan) Duncan Baker (Conservative – North Norfolk) Scott Benton (Conservative – Blackpool South) Stephen Crabb (Conservative – Preseli Pembrokeshire) David T C Davies (Conservative – Monmouth) James Davies (Conservative – Vale of Clwyd) Jamie Wallis (Conservative – Bridgend) Nigel Adams (Conservative – Selby and Ainsty) Adam Afriyie (Conservative – Windsor) Peter Aldous (Conservative – Waveney) Lucy Allan (Conservative – Telford) Lee Anderson (Conservative – Ashfield) Stuart Andrew (Conservative – Pudsey) Edward Argar (Conservative – Charnwood) Victoria Atkins (Conservative – Louth and Horncastle) Gareth Bacon (Conservative – Orpington) Kemi Badenoch (Conservative – Saffron Walden) Shaun Bailey (Conservative – West Bromwich West) Steve Baker (Conservative – Wycombe) Harriett Baldwin (Conservative – West Worcestershire) Steve Barclay (Conservative – North East Cambridgeshire) Simon Baynes (Conservative – Clwyd South) Aaron Bell (Conservative – Newcastle-under-Lyme) Paul Beresford (Conservative – Mole Valley) Bob Blackman (Conservative – Harrow East) Crispin Blunt (Conservative – Reigate) Peter Bone (Conservative – Wellingborough) Andrew Bowie (Conservative – West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) Graham Brady (Conservative – Altrincham and Sale West) Suella Braverman (Conservative – Fareham) Jack Brereton (Conservative – Stoke-on-Trent South) Andrew Bridgen (Conservative – North West Leicestershire) Steve Brine (Conservative – Winchester) Paul Bristow (Conservative – Peterborough) Sara Britcliffe (Conservative – Hyndburn) Anthony Browne (Conservative – South Cambridgeshire) Fiona Bruce (Conservative – Congleton) Felicity Buchan (Conservative – Kensington) Alex Burghart (Conservative – Brentwood and Ongar) Rob Butler (Conservative – Aylesbury) Andy Carter (Conservative – Warrington South) William Cash (Conservative – Stone) Miriam Cates (Conservative – Penistone and Stocksbridge) Maria Caulfield (Conservative – Lewes) Alex Chalk (Conservative – Cheltenham) Jo Churchill (Conservative – Bury St Edmunds) Theo Clarke (Conservative – Stafford) Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative – Bassetlaw) Chris Clarkson (Conservative – Heywood and Middleton) James Cleverly (Conservative – Braintree) Thérèse Coffey (Conservative – Suffolk Coastal) Damian Collins (Conservative – Folkestone and Hythe) Alberto Costa (Conservative – South Leicestershire) Robert Courts (Conservative – Witney) Claire Coutinho (Conservative – East Surrey) Virginia Crosbie (Conservative – Ynys Môn) James Daly (Conservative – Bury North) Gareth Davies (Conservative – Grantham and Stamford) Mims Davies (Conservative – Mid Sussex) Dehenna Davison (Conservative – Bishop Auckland) Caroline Dinenage (Conservative – Gosport) Sarah Dines (Conservative – Derbyshire Dales) Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative – Huntingdon) Leo Docherty (Conservative – Aldershot) Michelle Donelan (Conservative – Chippenham) Nadine Dorries (Conservative – Mid Bedfordshire) Julian Lewis (Conservative – New Forest East) Chris Loder (Conservative – West Dorset) Oliver Dowden (Conservative – Hertsmere) Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative – Thurrock) Flick Drummond (Conservative – Meon Valley) David Duguid (Conservative – Banff and Buchan) Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative – Chingford and Woodford Green) Ruth Edwards (Conservative – Rushcliffe) Michael Ellis (Conservative – Northampton North) Natalie Elphicke (Conservative – Dover) Luke Evans (Conservative – Bosworth) David Evennett (Conservative – Bexleyheath and Crayford) Ben Everitt (Conservative – Milton Keynes North) Michael Fabricant (Conservative – Lichfield) Laura Farris (Conservative – Newbury) Simon Fell (Conservative – Barrow and Furness) Katherine Fletcher (Conservative – South Ribble) Mark Fletcher (Conservative – Bolsover) Nick Fletcher (Conservative – Don Valley) Liam Fox (Conservative – North Somerset) Lucy Frazer (Conservative – South East Cambridgeshire) Mike Freer (Conservative – Finchley and Golders Green) Marcus Fysh (Conservative – Yeovil) Mark Garnier (Conservative – Wyre Forest) Nusrat Ghani (Conservative – Wealden) Nick Gibb (Conservative – Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) Peter Gibson (Conservative – Darlington) Jo Gideon (Conservative – Stoke-on-Trent Central) John Glen (Conservative – Salisbury) Richard Graham (Conservative – Gloucester) Helen Grant (Conservative – Maidstone and The Weald) Chris Green (Conservative – Bolton West) Andrew Griffith (Conservative – Arundel and South Downs) Kate Griffiths (Conservative – Burton) James Grundy (Conservative – Leigh) Jonathan Gullis (Conservative – Stoke-on-Trent North) Robert Halfon (Conservative – Harlow) Luke Hall (Conservative – Thornbury and Yate) Stephen Hammond (Conservative – Wimbledon) Mark Harper (Conservative – Forest of Dean) Rebecca Harris (Conservative – Castle Point) Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative – Hastings and Rye) John Hayes (Conservative – South Holland and The Deepings) James Heappey (Conservative – Wells) Darren Henry (Conservative – Broxtowe) Antony Higginbotham (Conservative – Burnley) Richard Holden (Conservative – North West Durham) Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative – Thirsk and Malton) Philip Hollobone (Conservative – Kettering) Paul Holmes (Conservative – Eastleigh) John Howell (Conservative – Henley) Paul Howell (Conservative – Sedgefield) Nigel Huddleston (Conservative – Mid Worcestershire) Neil Hudson (Conservative – Penrith and The Border) Eddie Hughes (Conservative – Walsall North) Jane Hunt (Conservative – Loughborough) Tom Hunt (Conservative – Ipswich) Alister Jack (Conservative – Dumfries and Galloway) Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative – Morley and Outwood) Robert Jenrick (Conservative – Newark) Caroline Johnson (Conservative – Sleaford and North Hykeham) Gareth Johnson (Conservative – Dartford) David Johnston (Conservative – Wantage) Andrew Jones (Conservative – Harrogate and Knaresborough) David Jones (Conservative – Clwyd West) Marcus Jones (Conservative – Nuneaton) Simon Jupp (Conservative – East Devon) Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative – Shrewsbury and Atcham) Alicia Kearns (Conservative – Rutland and Melton) Gillian Keegan (Conservative – Chichester) Julian Knight (Conservative – Solihull) Danny Kruger (Conservative – Devizes) Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative – Spelthorne) (Proxy vote cast by Stuart Andrew) John Lamont (Conservative – Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) Andrea Leadsom (Conservative – South Northamptonshire) Andrew Lewer (Conservative – Northampton South) Mark Logan (Conservative – Bolton North East) Marco Longhi (Conservative – Dudley North) Julia Lopez (Conservative – Hornchurch and Upminster) Jack Lopresti (Conservative – Filton and Bradley Stoke) Rachel Maclean (Conservative – Redditch) Kit Malthouse (Conservative – North West Hampshire) Anthony Mangnall (Conservative – Totnes) Julie Marson (Conservative – Hertford and Stortford) Theresa May (Conservative – Maidenhead) Jerome Mayhew (Conservative – Broadland) Paul Maynard (Conservative – Blackpool North and Cleveleys) Karl McCartney (Conservative – Lincoln) Stephen McPartland (Conservative – Stevenage) Mark Menzies (Conservative – Fylde) Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative – South Basildon and East Thurrock) Robin Millar (Conservative – Aberconwy) Maria Miller (Conservative – Basingstoke) Nigel Mills (Conservative – Amber Valley) Andrew Mitchell (Conservative – Sutton Coldfield) Gagan Mohindra (Conservative – South West Hertfordshire) Damien Moore (Conservative – Southport) Robbie Moore (Conservative – Keighley) Penny Mordaunt (Conservative – Portsmouth North) Anne Marie Morris (Conservative – Newton Abbot) James Morris (Conservative – Halesowen and Rowley Regis) Joy Morrissey (Conservative – Beaconsfield) Jill Mortimer (Conservative – Hartlepool) Wendy Morton (Conservative – Aldridge-Brownhills) Kieran Mullan (Conservative – Crewe and Nantwich) Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative – Scunthorpe) David Mundell (Conservative – Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) Sheryll Murray (Conservative – South East Cornwall) Andrew Murrison (Conservative – South West Wiltshire) Robert Neill (Conservative – Bromley and Chislehurst) Lia Nici (Conservative – Great Grimsby) Neil O’Brien (Conservative – Harborough) Guy Opperman (Conservative – Hexham) Neil Parish (Conservative – Tiverton and Honiton) Owen Paterson (Conservative – North Shropshire) Mark Pawsey (Conservative – Rugby) Mike Penning (Conservative – Hemel Hempstead) John Penrose (Conservative – Weston-super-Mare) Chris Philp (Conservative – Croydon South) Christopher Pincher (Conservative – Tamworth) Dan Poulter (Conservative – Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) Rebecca Pow (Conservative – Taunton Deane) Victoria Prentis (Conservative – Banbury) Mark Pritchard (Conservative – The Wrekin) Tom Pursglove (Conservative – Corby) Will Quince (Conservative – Colchester) Tom Randall (Conservative – Gedling) John Redwood (Conservative – Wokingham) Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative – North East Somerset) Nicola Richards (Conservative – West Bromwich East) Angela Richardson (Conservative – Guildford) Laurence Robertson (Conservative – Tewkesbury) Mary Robinson (Conservative – Cheadle) Douglas Ross (Conservative – Moray) Lee Rowley (Conservative – North East Derbyshire) Dean Russell (Conservative – Watford) David Rutley (Conservative – Macclesfield) Gary Sambrook (Conservative – Birmingham, Northfield) Selaine Saxby (Conservative – North Devon) Paul Scully (Conservative – Sutton and Cheam) Bob Seely (Conservative – Isle of Wight) Andrew Selous (Conservative – South West Bedfordshire) Grant Shapps (Conservative – Welwyn Hatfield) Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative – Elmet and Rothwell) Chris Skidmore (Conservative – Kingswood) Chloe Smith (Conservative – Norwich North) Greg Smith (Conservative – Buckingham) Henry Smith (Conservative – Crawley) Julian Smith (Conservative – Skipton and Ripon) Royston Smith (Conservative – Southampton, Itchen) Ben Spencer (Conservative – Runnymede and Weybridge) Mark Spencer (Conservative – Sherwood) Alexander Stafford (Conservative – Rother Valley) Andrew Stephenson (Conservative – Pendle) Jane Stevenson (Conservative – Wolverhampton North East) Bob Stewart (Conservative – Beckenham) Iain Stewart (Conservative – Milton Keynes South) Mel Stride (Conservative – Central Devon) Graham Stuart (Conservative – Beverley and Holderness) Julian Sturdy (Conservative – York Outer) James Sunderland (Conservative – Bracknell) Desmond Swayne (Conservative – New Forest West) Robert Syms (Conservative – Poole) Maggie Throup (Conservative – Erewash) Edward Timpson (Conservative – Eddisbury) Justin Tomlinson (Conservative – North Swindon) Michael Tomlinson (Conservative – Mid Dorset and North Poole) Craig Tracey (Conservative – North Warwickshire) Laura Trott (Conservative – Sevenoaks) Tom Tugendhat (Conservative – Tonbridge and Malling) Shailesh Vara (Conservative – North West Cambridgeshire) Martin Vickers (Conservative – Cleethorpes) Matt Vickers (Conservative – Stockton South) Christian Wakeford (Conservative – Bury South) Robin Walker (Conservative – Worcester) Charles Walker (Conservative – Broxbourne) David Warburton (Conservative – Somerton and Frome) Matt Warman (Conservative – Boston and Skegness) Giles Watling (Conservative – Clacton) Suzanne Webb (Conservative – Stourbridge) Helen Whately (Conservative – Faversham and Mid Kent) Heather Wheeler (Conservative – South Derbyshire) John Whittingdale (Conservative – Maldon) James Wild (Conservative – North West Norfolk) Craig Williams (Conservative – Montgomeryshire) Gavin Williamson (Conservative – South Staffordshire) Mike Wood (Conservative – Dudley South) William Wragg (Conservative – Hazel Grove) Jeremy Wright (Conservative – Kenilworth and Southam) TELLER: Alan Mak (Conservative – Havant) TELLER: Craig Whittaker (Conservative – Calder Valley)
