Water Companies

Debate between Emma Hardy and Paula Barker

Monday 8th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Emma Hardy]

This point came up repeatedly during the passage of the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 and, fundamentally, my response remains the same, which is that the cost and time spent on installing monitors could be more effectively spent and used to prevent this from happening in the first place. That is why we want to focus on delivering the storm overflow reduction plan, which is looking to deliver £60 billion of investment across England by 2050 to reduce the number of overflows. Rather than trying to measure the problem, we are trying to tackle it.

[Paula Barker (Liverpool Wavertree) (Lab)]

Several barriers to taking water back into public ownership have been floated—pardon the pun—but the myth around the cost has been debunked and the impact on pensions has been dealt with by leading academics. What will it take for the Government to take water back into public ownership?

[Emma Hardy]

I know how much my hon. Friend cares about this issue, and she is right to highlight the concerns of some unions about changes. On nationalisation, as I have already mentioned, the White Paper contains a process by which different forms of ownership can be looked at, but—I do not wish to mislead my hon. Friend—that would involve looking at not-for-profits and mutuals rather than nationalisation.