Water Quality
River and sea water quality, sewage
Based on 6 parliamentary votes
Related Environment Issues
How Parties Voted on Water Quality
Government alignment shows how often each party voted with the government's stated position. Issue-aligned direction shows agreement with the AI-identified supportive stance.
Recent Votes
| Vote | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|
MPs voted on a government amendment to an Opposition Day motion on sewage pollution. Opposition Day motions are brought by the opposition to highlight policy failures; the government typically tables its own amendment to reframe or counter the motion, and this vote decided whether the government's alternative wording would replace the opposition's original motion. Yes = Support the government's amended version of the sewage motion, reflecting Labour's preferred framing of its record and plans on tackling sewage pollution in rivers and seas · No = Reject the government amendment and back the original opposition motion, signalling dissatisfaction with Labour's approach to sewage and water company accountability Govt: Aye | 303-69 | 23 Apr 2025 |
A Liberal Democrat opposition day motion on sewage pollution in waterways was put to a vote. This type of motion allows opposition parties to force a debate and vote on issues they want to highlight, in this case the ongoing crisis of untreated sewage being discharged into rivers and seas by water companies. Yes = Support stronger action on water companies dumping sewage into rivers and seas, backing the Lib Dem motion calling for tougher regulation or accountability measures · No = Reject the Lib Dem motion on sewage, likely arguing existing government plans are sufficient or opposing the specific measures proposed in the motion Govt: No | 79-304 | 23 Apr 2025 |
The Commons voted to reject a Lords amendment to the Water (Special Measures) Bill and instead push forward the government's own revised amendment. This is part of the 'ping-pong' process between the Lords and Commons, with the government seeking to pass its preferred version of the water regulation legislation. Yes = Support the government's revised amendment to the Water (Special Measures) Bill, backing Labour's approach to regulating water companies · No = Prefer the Lords' version of the amendment, or oppose the government's handling of water company regulation in this bill Govt: Aye | 333-67 | 11 Feb 2025 |
Vote on a Liberal Democrat amendment (Amendment 9) to the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which sought to strengthen the bill's regulation of water companies — including proposals around a Water Restoration Fund to direct penalty fines into environmental improvements. The Lib Dems argued the government's bill was too weak given decades of water company mismanagement, excessive dividends, and sewage pollution. Yes = Support tougher regulation of water companies, including ringfencing financial penalties into a fund dedicated to restoring freshwater quality, going further than the government's bill · No = Oppose the Lib Dem amendment, backing the government's existing Water (Special Measures) Bill as sufficient without adding further requirements Govt: No | 75-321 | 28 Jan 2025 |
Vote on whether fines collected from polluting water companies must be paid into a dedicated 'Water Restoration Fund' and spent specifically on improving rivers and waterways, rather than going into the general Treasury pot. Conservatives proposed this amendment, arguing that bill-payers' money used to fund fines should be reinvested directly into water quality improvements. Yes = Support ringfencing water company fines into a dedicated Water Restoration Fund to improve freshwater environments, ensuring penalties directly benefit waterways rather than disappearing into general government finances · No = Oppose mandatory ringfencing of water company fines into a separate fund, preferring the government retains flexibility over how penalty revenues are allocated Govt: No | 182-322 | 28 Jan 2025 |
Vote on a Conservative amendment requiring that when water companies are fined, customers' bills must be reduced by an equivalent amount, so that bill payers do not end up indirectly covering the cost of penalties imposed on water companies. Yes = Support requiring that fines imposed on water companies lead to equivalent reductions in customers' bills, protecting bill payers from bearing the cost of water company wrongdoing · No = Oppose this specific mechanism for bill reductions, preferring the government retains flexibility in how penalties are applied and how customer interests are protected Govt: No | 180-326 | 28 Jan 2025 |
How is this calculated?
Government alignment (primary bar) shows how often a party's MPs voted with the government's stated position on this issue. This is the most comparable metric across parties, as it measures the same reference point for everyone.
Issue-aligned direction (secondary bar) shows how often MPs voted in the direction tagged as supportive of this issue by AI analysis. For example, if a vote is tagged “pro-environment”, a Yes vote counts as aligned. This can be misleading when the tagged direction happens to align with opposition amendments rather than government bills.
Why these metrics may differ: Opposition parties often vote against government bills for strategic or procedural reasons, even when they broadly support the policy area. The government alignment metric makes this clearer by showing the actual voting pattern against a consistent reference.
Source: Commons division data from the UK Parliament Votes API. Alignment direction determined by AI analysis of vote stance tags. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.