Speeches by Dollimore.

“Who decides whether it is a once in a lifetime event or not?”

“I am pleased to hear you can look at it where there is a complaint, because the leader of my council wrote to you in August regarding this incident and the lack of compensation. We would be grateful if you could look into that incident. We have not yet had a reply on that matter. Residents have not been compensated, th…”

“Yes. Then looking at the wider system issues around water interruptions, how are you working to make sure that we do not have incidents like this happening again? If I take the most recent incident of which I have the most experience, that was due to a pipe that had been identified by Southern Water for repair in 2007.…”

“You are right to say that it is very important we prevent incidents like this because in that instance, for example, the Southern Water boss has said Southern came this close to calling in the military. We could have very serious incidents on our hands if we do not look at this more closely. You are looking into South …”

“That is something people could refer to you?”

“Can I just clarify, David, on that point it sits with the EA so it is something that we need to ask the EA?”

“You say you have powers, but you have not opened an investigation into Southern Water from two major incidents. I find that odd.”

“You have to receive a complaint?”

“On that point about criminality, am I right in my understanding of the Water (Special Measures) Bill that is currently going through Parliament that it will include new powers not just to hold the company responsible for criminal activity but the individual water bosses themselves where necessary?”

“Andrew has talked about the issue with Thames Water. Much of that has been attributed to Macquarie, which has invested heavily in Thames Water and is an Australian investment bank. There are two parts to my question. Do you think that it is appropriate that an Australian investment bank has such a large stake in one of…”

“Do you have any sense of nervousness about an Australian investment bank investing so heavily in our utilities?”

“Moving swiftly on, the boss of Southern Water received a bonus for the last financial year of £183,000, the chief financial officer, £128,000. Given the incidents that we have heard about from colleagues today—massive sewage pollution under its watch, incidences of flooding in many communities caused by Southern Water,…”

“However, now you will have powers in the new legislate to totally ban them, not just to ban them from being paid from the customers’ pockets. Would you have used those powers to ban these bonuses completely?”

“It is the lived experience of people in our communities as well.”

“There has been a lot of discussion about the monitors on pipes to monitor sewage discharges and obviously a lot of work going on to increase the number of them to make sure that all the pipes are monitored as part of the Water (Special Measures) Bill. Previously, the discharges have only been measured by length of time…”

“Can I just clarify, David, on that point it sits with the EA so it is something that we need to ask the EA?”

“The Chair touched on some of the failings that have come out relating to Thames Water and Southern Water and how those have come to be exposed. It would be fair to say that a lot of the failings in the water industry have only been exposed because of the work of campaign groups and volunteers in our communities and con…”

“As part of the process that you are undergoing at the moment around the price review, you obviously take submissions from those groups but how regularly do you meet with those environmental campaigners, David?”

“Many farmers in my constituency of Hastings and Rye are feeling the impact of 14 years of Conservative failure. In particular, they have faced many challenges with flooding. Can the Minister tell me what steps we have taken in the Budget to protect small family farms and how we will continue to support farmers facing f…”

“In 2022, Lubov Chernukhin opened an amusement centre in Hastings town centre known as Owens. The project received more than £400,000 of taxpayer money as part of the Conservatives’ levelling up towns fund plans. Ms Chernukhin has also donated more than £200,000 to the Conservative party.[Official Report, 29 October 202…”