The Daily Express: Labour accused of 'misleading' Britons over cost of cleaning Britain's rivers and lakes
Ministers have been accused of misleading the public over claims that it has secured £100 billion in private investment for the water industry over the next five years. Environment Secretary Steve Reed and his Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have repeatedly said £104billion of private sector investment will be used to upgrade the UK’s crumbling water infrastructure.
But a Freedom of Information request to water regulator Ofwat suggested this is being funded through customer bills and not private investment. Meanwhile Defra said they “did not hold” the evidence and the watchdog should be approached instead - despite the Secretary of State repeating the remarks several times.
Matt Staniek, founder of Save Windermere, said:
"Privatisation has failed. The government needs to accept this and to stop misleading the general public by pretending that shareholders are contributing to this mess—with statements like this they are protecting a predatory industry at the expense of the public and environment. We want action and not empty words.
“For somewhere like Windermere it's very simple: bring in legislation that makes it illegal for water companies to discharge any sewage into the people's lake."
Mr Staniek, who put in the Freedom of information requests, raised concerns about the Government allegedly "misleading" the public on who is actually footing the bill to “fix the consequences of privatisation”.
It comes ahead of Tuesday when the interim findings of Sir Jon Cunliffe’s report into the sector is expected to be published after seven months’ work of his independent water commission.
It was announced in December that bills will be hiked by £31 a year - or £157 in total - over the next five years to an average of £597 by 2030.
Clean water campaigner and former Undertones star Feargal Sharkey said: "What is clear here is that the experiment of privatisation has failed, the regulators have failed, and we should all be asking: where has our money gone, and why are we paying twice for this mess?"
In response to the FOI by Mr Staniek, the regulator said: “Our cost allowance decisions for Price Review 24 are set out in our final determinations. Our total expenditure allowance for the sector is £103.7 billion which includes provision for a range of work including £11.9 billion to reduce harm from storm overflows and £6 billion of upgrades to combat nutrient pollution. These cost allowances are recovered from customers.”
There is huge anger across the nation over the state of the country’s waterways because of pollution from sewage, forever chemicals and agricultural run off.
Bosses of water firms have continued to receive bonuses and dividends despite the state of Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas.
Professor David Hall, of the University of Greenwich, said:
"Over the next five years, Ofwat allocates £22billion to provide companies with dividends and interest payments - nearly double the £12billion it hopes the companies will invest in dealing with sewage spills."
A Defra spokesman said:
"This is rubbish. Private sector investors will pay upfront for the £104 investment into the water sector cutting sewage by nearly half."
The £104bn will be recouped over the long-term through customer bills, to avoid them increasing dramatically in that period.
This money is then ringfenced for investment so it can only be spent on upgrading infrastructure rather than unfair and undeserved bonuses.
Where money is not spent, the Government will force water companies to return it to customers.”
