Speeches by Hardy.

“I thank the hon. Gentleman and the EFRA Committee for their work. He will have heard our commitment to the £30 million coastal fund, which is looking at what we should do about managing coastal erosion and the risks of coastal flooding.”

“My hon. Friend raises an important point. We are continuing to work with the Government, the regulator and industry to review the scheme eligibility criteria, including considering options to better support leaseholders.”

“I recognise the work that my hon. Friend has done on this issue through the Environmental Audit Committee. Although businesses are not eligible for Flood Re, the record amount of money that we are putting into flood defences should help to make flood insurance more affordable right across the country. Exactly as she sa…”

“The hon. Lady is quite right to say that we need to take action on the risk of flooding. That is why this Government are putting the most money into flood protection and taking action against flooding of any Government ever. In our first year in government, we delivered 151 flood schemes, better protecting more than 24…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for recognising the money that we are investing in York, not least owing to the formidable campaigning that she has undertaken for a long time, and also for identifying the need to look at the longer term. Of course Flood Re will continue to look at eligibility to ensure that it is acting accordi…”

“I welcome the opportunity to update the House on the reforms that Flood Re is announcing today, with the support of this Government. The changes will ensure that Flood Re remains fair, sustainable and focused on those who need it most, while supporting a transition to a more resilient insurance market by 2039. Flood ri…”

“I absolutely love Slow the Flow, and I made a delightful visit to my hon. Friend’s constituency to look at the flood defences there. The halving of the contents-only flood element to £25 will make a huge difference to the cost of living. Flood Re policies should be automatically ceded by the insurance companies, and th…”

“I recognise how difficult it is when people cannot afford insurance. There are no current plans to look at homes built after 2009, but of course the Government always keep everything under review.”

“I know how difficult the loss of those homes has been for the hon. Lady and her constituents. Losing one’s home because of coastal erosion must be devastating. There are no current plans to consider Coastal Re, but, of course, Flood Re keeps eligibility criteria under review.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Sojan Joseph) for securing this debate, and for his excellent work on the Environmental Audit Committee. I am grateful to everyone who has spoken in the debate. In the time I have, I will do my best to answer as …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I thank everybody for what has been a really good debate. It shows Parliament at its best when we all try to work together for the same aim, and that is really important. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) for secur…”

“Without straying too far from the debate that we are having, the question of inequality is very interesting, especially with the news that the Conservative party wants to get rid of the public sector duty. We are actually looking at whether to expand that duty to include class as an inequality issue. Maybe if class was…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his question, which provides yet another example of the current failure of the system. He is right to feel angry about it. As I have said, the Government are working closely with Ofwat in respect of Thames Water. We stand ready for every eventuality, including applying for special administrat…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I could not have put it better myself. She is right to be cross about problems with water pressure. Instead, we seem to be deflecting the problem by saying, “We should not build the homes we need”. We absolutely should build the homes we need, and we should ensure that the water …”

“The hon. Lady raises a shocking and awful case, and I am more than happy to meet her and look into it. There is no excuse for sewage ending up in primary schools or floating down the street. I am happy to take that up.”

“The hon. Gentleman is right to say that South East Water’s communication with customers was frankly not good enough, and nor was its communication with Members of Parliament. One thing we are trying to do through DEFRA is to support the work with the local resilience forum to look at how we can improve that communicati…”

“That was a record fine for not delivering safe and clean drinking water, but the hon. Gentleman is right that what happened there is a serious issue. Issuing fines is a matter for the independent regulators. On making the polluter pay, through our changes to the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 we can recoup the cost …”

“The right hon. Gentleman raises an incredibly important point. One of the things we have been doing through the water delivery taskforce is looking at all the potential barriers in the way of just getting stuff done. That is why it is so important that we have MHCLG on the taskforce alongside DEFRA, because it is about…”

“Happy World Oceans Day, everybody—that is a good day to have. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, because for years she led the campaign to ban the supply and sale of plastic-containing wet wipes, which were a huge cause of pollution, and we passed that ban partly because of her work. She is right that river pollution lea…”

“My hon. Friend is right that we share the same water company. Sir Jon Cunliffe’s commission addressed whether it would be appropriate for the Government to set a level of debt that companies cannot go beyond, because the gearing over the last decade or so has been completely unsustainable. It is making companies act in…”