Speeches by Reed.

“Streamline does not mean weaken. If you look at what has been going on up until now, we have had a flatlining economy and nature in retreat. The old system has not worked for economic growth, and it has not worked for nature. It was failing everywhere. Our intention is to streamline regulation but maintain the environm…”

“Growth is essential, isn’t it, because the economy has flatlined for well over a decade now. If we do not grow the economy, we do not get the revenues to reinvest in our broken public services, and the British people will not get the pay rises that they so desperately need after 10 years of having their incomes flatlin…”

“Absolutely, it is a priority. There is stability in the environmental land management schemes. What has happened with SFI is that the previous Government were criticised by the farming sector for not getting over £300 million of allocated funding out the door. It was allocated in the Budget for farming, but it was neve…”

“Yes—100%. I have written pieces before explaining how it fits into all the missions as well, which I would be happy to send you if you want to see them.”

“Nature underpins everything we do. It is present in all the missions. I am engaging with my colleagues across Government on precisely that basis, whether it is on the crime mission, access to nature, diversionary projects taking place in nature, the opportunities mission, the opportunities for voluntary work, pathways …”

“Yes, I do. The whole of Government needs to look at how we can do better with less. I was 16 years in business in the private sector and every year I was expected to do better with less. That meant being innovative, open to new approaches and changing the way we did things, but always focused on the outcome that we wer…”

“It will operate based on full cost recovery. Here there is a way that we can see where the resources will be coming from. We will have conversations with Natural England about the resourcing that it will need to make sure that this works in the way that it should. We do not want to create new logjams in decision making…”

“I visited one. It was very interesting.”

“Again, until we make the announcement, it is difficult for me to anticipate too much what is going to be in there. You will have seen that the Government are very committed to this agenda, internationally as well as here in the UK. Mary Creagh was in the west of England last week announcing the Western Forest, which is…”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Yes, I thought we didn’t. When we have that, I will make sure that you are informed.”

“Do you have the details on that yet?”

“Yes, and to catchments, and not just in relation to flooding. There is further for that to go, and I speak here as a lifelong believer in devolution.”

“There is a lot to be learned from visiting other countries and seeing how they do it, particularly a country like the Netherlands, which has an awful lot of experience in these matters. The Government, of course, are rolling out combined authorities and regional authorities across the country, so we need to be looking,…”

“I did not know that. That is interesting.”

“There are conversations going on between my Ministers and the sponsors of the Bill, and again I do not want to anticipate that here. As I say, I wanted that Bill to succeed.”

“I was disappointed that the Bill did not proceed at that point because we had been engaging as a Department very closely with its sponsors. I would like to see it succeed. There are one or two issues to iron out until they feel satisfied, but from my point of view by and large I very much agreed with the proposals in t…”

“The Government are taking steps to improve the performance of all water companies, including through the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, which I spoke about earlier. Sir Jon Cunliffe is leading a review of the entire sector, so that we can reform regulation and, if need be, the regulator, to ensure that they are fit…”

“I am of course having conversations. I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that the company remains stable, and that the Government are closely monitoring the situation.”

“My officials and I have regular conversations with Ofwat and other regulators. As the right hon. Gentleman will be aware, last year water companies discharged record levels of sewage into our waterways, which is why the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 gives the regulator tough new powers, including the ability to ban…”