Speeches by Hudson.

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. New clause 4 amends the Water Industry Act 1991 to insert new rules regarding the limits to the amount of money that can be borrowed by a water company, which the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would be able to enact by…”

“I thank the Minister for her comments. I am afraid that I am not fully reassured, and we would like to see provision in the Bill for any fines imposed on water companies to have a concomitant effect—a direct effect—on customer bills. This well-intended measure has been tabled to create a link between the two, so althou…”

“I agree. Amendments are easy to table with a view to obstruction and making political points, and those were not affordable and would not have been deliverable in any realistic timescale. Governments have to make realistic, cost-effective decisions that honour the taxpayer, and they have to be clear with the public abo…”

“Can I just say that the previous Government went and looked for the problem, and found the scale of it? We all agree that it is a huge problem that needs to be addressed; we are not downplaying the scale of it. We collected data and were brave enough to say, “There is a problem.” Labour Members threw a lot of things at…”

“The Conservative Government were the first Government to start addressing this issue by actually evaluating the data, monitoring overflows and monitoring outflows. I gently remind the hon. Member that when her party left power, only 7% of storm overflows were measured; when the Conservatives left power, 100% were measu…”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. New clause 3, which His Majesty’s Opposition will again push to a vote, has at its heart the people we want to protect—the very individuals who this Committee has acknowledged are most affected: the consumers and bill payers. They are the pivotal reason why we have …”

“I am not reassured by those comments. The Minister says that the water restoration fund does not need new legislation, but we are concerned that the fact that the fund is not in the Bill shows that the Government are not doing anything with it. They are completely silent about it. I fear that they are going to drop the…”

“Good. We are all for talking about and raising the issue of chalk streams, but it is clear that we wanted to include that in our amendment. Our amendment will therefore be a chance to give chalk streams the attention they need from this Government. The previous Government were ready to deliver that and hand the baton o…”

“It is actually part of our amendment.”

“It is a great privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. On behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition, I rise to challenge the Government on their plans in Government amendments 1 and 2. Before I go into the detail, I will make some general comments about the clause that are pertinent to the amendments. The Oppos…”

“I note that clause 6 would grant the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers the power to introduce secondary legislation concerning fixed and variable monetary penalties, as confirmed by the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008. It would likewise change the condition of imposing these penalties from “beyond re…”

“The Opposition have no formal objections to the clause, but I do have a couple of clarifying questions. I realise I am getting into territory with which I have no familiarity. I am not a lawyer; I am a veterinary surgeon. When we are changing offences to make them more criminal, there are implications for the courts an…”

“I rise to speak to new clause 5, tabled by His Majesty’s loyal Opposition. We are talking about practical nature-based solutions to flood risk. I welcome the comments made about nature-based solutions, not least from the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale, who talks passionately about the importance of nature-bas…”

“I thank the Minister for her comments and for acknowledging the importance of the safety of the waters in which people practise water sports. I also thank the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale for supporting that concept—we must try to keep these waters safe. I confirm, happily, that we will not be pushing the a…”

“I beg to move amendment 10, in clause 3, page 9, line 38, at end insert— “141H Restriction on the use of emergency overflows in areas used for aquatic sports (1) A sewerage undertaker must not permit a discharge from an emergency overflow in an area used for aquatic sports. (2) In this section, an ‘area used for aquati…”

“I thank the Minister for her comments. I can confirm that we will not push the amendment to a vote. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”

“I beg to move amendment 4, in clause 3, page 9, line 38, at end insert— “141H Failure to report discharge from emergency overflows (1) If a relevant undertaker fails to comply with its duties under section 141F— (a) the undertaker commits an offence, and (b) the chief executive of the undertaker commits an offence, sub…”

“It is a great pleasure to speak to amendment 3, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey). Today, there is a recurrent theme—transparency and clarity. We want cleaner waters and we want the data collection to be transparent and available to people so that they can actually monitor and an…”

“In the interests of promoting transparency and clarity, we would still like to press our amendment 6 to a vote. To bolster, support and protect the precious integrity of our national parks, we would like to do the same with amendment 9. Amendment proposed: 9, in clause 2, page 5, line 10, at end insert— “(2A) A polluti…”

“On that note, I will move on to amendment 9, which would make it a requirement for pollution incident reduction plans to include how an undertaker intends to reduce the occurrence of pollution incidents in national parks attributable to their water system. The Opposition tabled the amendment to strengthen the existing …”