Image by Adam Derewecki from Pixabay
Parliament broke up for recess last week, ending a tumultuous period in Westminster which saw Labour suffer its biggest rebellion to date.
Along with welfare, we tackled many other thorny issues in the last few months, including NHS dentistry, assisted dying, and the sewage crisis.
The latter issue has had a particularly significant month given the fact that in the last fortnight the CEO of South West Water (SWW) has retired, and the Government has confirmed it will scrap the water industry regulator, Ofwat.
Tackling the sewage crisis and campaigning for improvements to our water industry have been a focus of all Liberal Democrat MPs. In the Chamber, I have spoken about the cryptosporidium outbreak and flooding in Kingsbridge and have met with affected constituents and representatives from SWW.
In fact, my first meeting as MP was with the CEO of SWW. I hope that one of my first meetings of my second year as an MP will be with the new CEO of SWW.
Ms Davy’s decision to retire closed a sorry tenure as CEO, where she oversaw shocking sewage spills, plummeting customer confidence, and a water contamination event that sent people to hospital. For many, her decision should have come a lot sooner.
The regulatory environment the new SWW CEO will operate in will be very different from the one we have now after the Government confirmed its plans to scrap Ofwat.
This decision followed the publication of Sir Jon Cunliffe’s report into the water industry, which laid bare just how broken the industry is.
While there has been some criticism that the Government is merely rearranging the deckchairs, the report’s recommendation to move to a “supervisory” model of regulation could be transformative if adopted.
The word if is key here. At the moment, we simply do not know how many of the recommendations the Government is bringing forward. Along with abolishing Ofwat, Sir Jon made 87 other recommendations to fix our broken water industry.
What is disappointing, however, is that there currently does not appear to be any plans to change the ownership structure at water companies. As my colleague Tim Farron MP pointed out, even the best regulator will fail if water companies are still owned by those who care nothing for their customers or the environment and are focused solely on making as much profit as possible in return for little investment.
During the Water (Special Measures) Bill debate, the Liberal Democrats introduced an amendment to put champions for the environment and for customers on the boards of water companies.
Unfortunately, neither Labour nor the Conservatives adopted this amendment, and it does not appear as though the Government has any plans to make any drastic changes to water company ownership. While the Liberal Democrats have been calling for the abolition of Ofwat since 2022, the sad truth is that the situation has deteriorated so much in recent years that bringing in a new regulator is not enough.
The Environment Secretary confirmed that the Government will give its full response to Sir Jon’s report this autumn and that a new Water Reform Bill will be coming soon. I look forward to scrutinising both publications in the future.
In the meantime, I am looking forward to spending more time in South Devon this summer. Coming back to the constituency and meeting constituents is my favourite part of being an MP. I cannot wait to embark on my Summer Surgery Tour this August, where I will be travelling to over 50 communities across 6 days.
No appointment is needed, just simply turn up for a chat – it would be lovely to see you. But if you did want to share a specific topic you would like to talk to me about and find out the exact times and locations of each visit, please contact me at caroline.voaden.mp@parliament.uk or go to my website. See you there!
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