Water White Paper

Steve Race Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Emma Reynolds]

As I said, we have already blocked 10 company bosses from taking £4 million-worth of bonuses. I am urging them to respect both the spirit and the letter of the law, and Ofwat is considering further action to hold these companies to account.

[Steve Race (Exeter) (Lab)]

This is the second major programme of business we have seen in this Parliament, which shows that the Government are getting on with cleaning up our rivers and sorting out the water sector. That will be very welcome in Exeter, where the River Exe has borne the brunt of agricultural run-off and pollution over the last few years.

Exeter is also home to the Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste, which works with partners to explore some of the new challenges that have come up, including better upstream water management, microplastics and pollutants. What would the Minister say about making sure that all water companies work in partnership to look at innovative solutions to the bigger water challenges that we face? Will she visit to see the centre’s fantastic work?

[Emma Reynolds]

I am always very happy to visit my hon. Friend. I know that the Nature Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry East (Mary Creagh), visited last year.

My hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Steve Race) is absolutely right that we have to strengthen the system. We will strengthen the regional planning system and we are doubling the funding for catchment partnerships. We have to bear down on all sources of water pollution because, as he said, we have to protect our beloved rivers—the one in his constituency and many across the country—that saw record levels of pollution under the previous Government.