MPs will vote on beefed up new regulations on Tuesday, which will also allow criminal charges for persistent law breakers and enable automatic and severe fines for wrongdoing
Water bosses whose firms pollute Britain’s rivers will have their bonuses blocked under plans returning to the Commons this week.
MPs will vote on beefed up new regulations, which will also allow criminal charges for persistent law breakers and enable automatic and severe fines for wrongdoing.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed is expected to say: “It is an outrage that water chief executives paid themselves over £41m in bonuses, benefits and incentives since 2020, despite poor performance.
“That is why we are taking urgent action to end this behaviour and reset the sector for good.”
The Water (Special Measures) Bill is expected to include the biggest increase in enforcement powers for the water industry regulators in a decade.
Mr Reed added: “We are banning the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company’s finances.
“As Defra’s first piece of primary legislation under my leadership, I am proud to bring this Bill to the House tomorrow to seize this opportunity to clean up our water once and for all.
“But this is just the beginning. We will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run, and speed up the delivery of essential infrastructure to clean up our waterways.”
