Mersey Reporter - Merseybites News

THE Labour Government has introduced major legislation to crack down on water bosses polluting Britain's rivers, lakes and seas; the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade. The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to parliament and will give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on United Utilities damaging the environment and failing their customers.

The introduction of the Bill comes as Labour's Secretary of State Steve Reed delivers a speech at Thames Rowing Club on Thursday, 5th September, to representatives from the water industry, investors, environmental groups and campaigners setting out his plans to transform the water sector.The Bill delivers on the manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector, including significantly increasing the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against law-breaking water executives. It will create new tougher penalties, including imprisonment, for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations.

The new legislation will also ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company's finances.

Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including allowing regulators to issue penalties more quickly, without having to direct resources to lengthy investigations. It will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.

Patrick Hurley, MP, said:- "After 14 years of Conservative failure, raw toxic sewage is being pumped into Southport. From Tarleton Runner to Three Pools Waterway, Southport constituency was polluted by:- sewage 379 times in 2023, lasting 1,573 hours. This relentless pollution is devastating local wildlife, endangering public health, and tarnishing the natural environment. That is why the Labour Government has introduced immediate action to end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses. Under this Labour Government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time. This Bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. The Labour Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good."

In short:-

Labour will introduction of major new legislation for the water sector will deliver the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade.
Water (Special Measures) Bill hands new powers to regulators to ban bonuses and impose tougher penalties for law-breaking, including imprisonment for water bosses.
In a speech this week, the Secretary of State outlined his long term vision to reform the sector and clean up water pollution..

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