Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 05 Nov 2013 Water Industry
"My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Ensuring that we have investment in the infrastructure that the country needs is really important...." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
"Then they went back up again, as my hon. Friend remarks. Under the previous Government the water industry was allowed to become 100% mortgaged to make the tax avoidance work. There have been excessive pay rises in the boardroom at a time when hard-working families have not seen substantial pay …..." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
"My hon. Friend makes exactly the right point. In my constituency, in Dover and Deal in east Kent, we depend on the aquifers. There is water abstraction and water stress, and compulsory metering has been in place for some time. We need to look more closely at the national planning …..." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
"That is true. In some parts of the country we have too much water and in some parts too little. I am sure that at some point someone will raise the need to move water from one place where there is too much of it to another place where there …..." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is a passionate advocate for more reservoirs. Reservoirs are not only important for water storage; they are important places for the angling community. Many hon. Members here are passionate anglers who enjoy fishing, and reservoirs provide an opportunity for that pursuit...." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
"My right hon. Friend makes an interesting point. The planning system obviously means that such things take time. It is certainly important to have more of a national planning framework, which has been discussed by some and is worth considering. The view of water professionals is that competition is important …..." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
Let me move on to the reforms that are worth considering. First, we must consider whether it is possible to tackle the excess profits and excess returns seen over the last period and return that money to hard-working families in the next period, …..." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
"My hon. Friend makes an important point, but I will leave it to my hon. Friend the Member for South Swindon, who has been studying those issues with considerable care and concern.
Secondly, there is the question of how we tackle tax avoidance. The unacceptable, even antisocial, tax avoidance culture …..." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech
The issue about debt is that water companies are often leveraged to 100% and then say that they cannot fund infrastructure improvements. Many colleagues have concerns about the Thames tideway tunnel and how that is financed. I am sure that will be …..." Charlie Elphicke - View Speech