Water (Special Measures) Bill Report Stage: New Clause 16

Parliament voted on 28 January 2025 on New Clause 16 of the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which would have required the government to establish a Water Restoration Fund within 60 days of the Act passing. The fund would have ringfenced monetary penalties from water company pollution offences and directed that money toward improving freshwater environments in England, rather than letting it flow into the general Treasury. The amendment was defeated by 322 votes to 181. The practical effect of the new clause would have been to lock in a direct connection between fines levied on polluting water companies and environmental restoration spending. Supporters argued that because fines ultimately fall on bill-paying households rather than company shareholders, it was a matter of basic fairness that the money be recycled into improving the very waterways the companies had damaged. The government, by voting against, retained flexibility over how penalty revenues are used, meaning income from water company fines can be allocated across general spending rather than being legally committed to environmental projects. The vote divided sharply along party lines. Labour and Labour Co-operative MPs voted unanimously against, providing the government's winning margin. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, the Democratic Unionist Party, Reform UK and the Greens all voted in favour, forming a broad but ultimately unsuccessful cross-party coalition for the amendment. Graham Stuart, the Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness, argued from the floor that the fund had been created by the previous Conservative government in 2022 and that rejecting it amounted to ideology trumping evidence. The vote came on the same day as a related division on New Clause 19, which was also defeated by a similar margin of 325 to 180.