After 14 years of Tory neglect, our rivers, lakes, and seas are in crisis. The state of Britain’s waterways is simply unacceptable.

However, I am pleased that this Labour government, are taking urgent action to clean up this mess. So far, we have taken the following actions:

✅Secured agreements with water companies and Ofwat to ringfence funding for vital infrastructure improvements – no more lining the pockets of shareholders and execs instead of investment.

✅Introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill: Tougher powers to ban bonuses for polluting water bosses and criminal charges for repeat offenders.

✅Launched the Independent Water Commission to review the water industry and ensure the right regulations are put in place to protect our waterways.

Just yesterday, I spoke at a debate in Westminster Hall on the regulation and financial stability of water companies, highlighting the shocking sewage discharges by Northumbrian Water, which are damaging our stunning East Durham Heritage Coast and endangering both swimmers and wildlife.

Listen or read the text of my full speech below:

Thank you, for calling me to speak.

Let me begin by congratulating my Hon. Friend, the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron MP), for securing this important debate.

His constituency is blessed with some of the most stunning natural beauty in the world, from the fells and woodlands to the Lake District, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The illegal sewage dumping at Windermere by United Utilities doesn’t just shame our nation, it should be considered an ecological crime, and those responsible must be held accountable under the full force of the law.

While the Lake District is renowned worldwide, I am equally proud to represent a so called hidden gem, the Durham Heritage Coast. Our cream-coloured magnesian limestone cliffs offer spectacular views of the North Sea, and in summer, the coastal grasslands are alive with rare wildflowers, creating a habitat for the Durham Brown Argus butterfly and other wildlife. This coastline, once scarred by industrial waste from coal, has been reclaimed by nature. Yet now, it faces a new threat, sewage.

Sewage overflows, far from being a rare event, have become routine in the water industry. In 2023, Northumbrian Water discharged raw sewage for over 280,000 hours across 46,492 incidents, including in the bathing waters off Seaham and Crimdon in my constituency.

What compounds this environmental disaster is the economic abuse by water companies. Since privatisation in 1989, companies like Northumbrian Water have neglected infrastructure while accumulating staggering debts to pay out dividends. Northumbrian Water alone has built up £3.5 billion in debt, paying paid out £4.1 billion in dividends. This means 19% of consumers’ bills in my region goes toward servicing debt.

Northumbrian Water is not alone. Across the industry, financial mismanagement has gone hand-in-hand with environmental failure.

That is why I welcome the Government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill. Its provisions to block bonus payments for executives, require annual pollution reduction plans, and improve transparency on sewage discharges are crucial. The tougher penalties, including imprisonment for those impeding investigations, are necessary steps.

But while we are moving in the right direction, I fear this won’t be enough to fully address the scale of the problem.

Yes, the Bill strengthens regulation, and it is certainly more robust than anything proposed by the Opposition. But will it solve the underlying issues? Will it ensure clean, sewage-free water? Will it secure the necessary investments in our crumbling infrastructure? Will it prevent the public from continuing to foot the bill for decades of mismanagement?

I fear the answer to these questions is no.

While I have to accept the cross-party consensus against renationalisation, we cannot ignore the fact that the public are already paying the price for this industry’s failures. We pay through higher bills, through polluted waters, and through an industry debt that now exceeds £60 billion. When this sector finally collapses under the weight of its own excesses, it will be the taxpayer who is left to pick up the pieces. I support nationalisation, and I think the cost are vastly exaggerated considering the scale of the challenge and liability.

We must take steps now to fix the debt, pollution, and infrastructure crises in the water industry. This means we need to go further.

Blocking executive bonuses alone is not enough. We must stop shareholder dividends until water companies meet strict targets on pollution reduction, debt repayment, and infrastructure investment. Otherwise, we are simply rewarding failure. Last year, Northumbrian Water paid its shareholders £396 for every hour it dumped raw sewage into our waterways. That cannot continue.

I congratulate my colleagues on the frontbench for the progress made. We are winning the argument. The Water (Special Measures) Bill is a major step forward. But if we truly want to fix our failing water industry, we must be prepared to regulate dividends more aggressively.

Without such measures, the consequences will be higher bills for consumers, more money lost to debt repayments, and an industry that continues to prioritise profits over the public good.

We have a duty to ensure that does not happen. I urge the Government to take these additional steps to protect our environment, secure investment in vital infrastructure, and deliver a fairer deal for bill-payers.