Business of the House

Jon Trickett Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jon Trickett (Normanton and Hemsworth) (Lab)]

May I warmly endorse the generous comments of the Leader of the House about the public sector workers, often on low pay, who serve our communities, especially in holiday periods? I cannot extend that warm greeting to the management at Yorkshire Water, which has polluted our river courses, raised its prices and failed to deliver services more generally. Today we learn from the BBC that the chief executive, who earned £1.7 million over a two-year period, was secretly paid two further payments of £660,000 each. Can we have a debate about the scandalous levels of high pay in corporate Britain, particularly pay that is kept secret from the public?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

My hon. Friend will know that the Government are bringing forward a series of measures on how to improve the water industry, which was in a dire state when we came into government. That includes looking at the role of the water ombudsman and others, and at how to protect customers from the sorts of practices that my hon. Friend describes. Let me take up the matter with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. If he wishes to meet Ministers, I will encourage them to meet him.