Reed slammed for ‘laughable’ claims on private water industry

Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey on live TV this morning called for the immediate resignation of the environment secretary, as the government’s Cunliffe Review is derided as a ‘joke’

Today’s announcement from environment secretary Steve Reed promising the “biggest overhaul of water since privatisation”, following the Cunliffe review of the water industry, went down about as well as a turd in a blocked toilet with environmentalists, campaigners and customers judging by the reactions to his weekend media round.

It even saw one of the country’s highest profile activists, Feargal Sharkey, call for Reed’s resignation on live television.

“The thing has become an utter shambles,” Sharkey said on Good Morning Britain.

“The idea that on Friday it was announced that [there has been a] 65% increase in serious pollution incidents [in the past year].

“There is no pollution control anymore in this country, and I think Steve has got to reflect very carefully on the role he’s played in the last 12 months.

“I think he should go,” Sharkey said.

Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review contains 88 recommendations to fix the sector, including the scrapping of ineffectual watchdog Ofwat, to be replaced by a “new, single, powerful regulator”.

Cunliffe’s review does not recommend re-nationalising the privatised regional monopolies, though. Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North when he can be arsed), deliberately excluded considering such an option when setting the terms for the former senior civil servant’s review.

Reed puts forward the argument that re-nationalising would be too expensive – basing it on figures from a private water industry briefing…

Pretending that he did not know what was in the review when he appeared on Sunday morning telly, today Reed made a speech which echoed his TV “best bits”.

“Our water industry is broken,” Reed said, stating the bleedin’ obvious.

“The government will abolish Ofwat. In the biggest overhaul of water regulation in a generation, we will bring water functions from four different regulators into one.

“A single, powerful regulator responsible for the entire water sector will stand firmly on the side of customers, investors and the environment and prevent the abuses of the past.”

But the public seems to think it is not just our rivers that are full of shit, as some highlighted on social media Reed’s all-too-cosy relationship with the water industry.

A promise to reduce pollution incidents by half by 2030 was dissected by some on social media for being far too slow, and for only offering a reduction based against the out-of-control peak of pollution incidents occurring this year under Reed and his Labour government.

After Sharkey’s interview on GMB, one viewer posted on Twitter: “Feargal is totally right in all he says.

“This report could be three-feet thick, it won’t change a thing. We, the public, will still bear the cost. The bosses and shareholders will still get rich on us.”

Andrew Fisher, the Inside Croydon columnist, said the Cunliffe report “is a joke”.

Fisher said: “Protecting water profiteers, screwing over bill-payers. Scrap Ofwat, keep water privatised and hike bills by another 30%. Laughable.”

Reed’s appearance on Sunday morning’s Laura Kuenssberg programme came on a weekend when much of the country was getting its first significant rainfall for several weeks, with hosepipe bans being enforced in some areas and, as one tweeter highlighted, even more pollution being pumped into our rivers and coastlines.

“It’s raining a little bit,” Philip Proudfoot tweeted as the TV broadcast was going out, “so Southern Water is now dumping gallons of shit into the sea, where thousands swim every summer.”

Proudfoot’s tweet was accompanied by a map showing the pollution release sites.

“This might seem very, very bad, but don’t despair, the shareholders are happy.”

Others on Twitter responded: “There should be zero sewage pollution, full stop.

“Nationalise the failed water sector and invest the money to fix it. No more public money into private pockets.”

And what amounted to a social media “pile-on” against the environment secretary was led by the usually socially conservative Angling Trust.

“Anglers have heard it all before — pledges, promises, and grand plans to fix the sewage scandal,” wrote the fishermen’s friend, Trust CEO Jamie Cook.

“Yet year after year, water pollution gets worse, not better. The water industry has been allowed to pollute with impunity for too long by successive governments. Reform must be urgent, enforced and rooted in reality, not rhetoric.

“Anglers will continue to fight for clean rivers, and we’ll hold those in power accountable every step of the way. This government — like those before it — will be judged on outcomes, not headlines.”

Even the headlines being generated by Reed and his industry-friendly policy statements weren’t doing him too many favours.

In opposition, Reed had pledged to end the practice of rewarding failure with massive bonuses and pay packets for the bosses of polluting water firms. Yet last week, Lawrence Gosden, the CEO of Southern Water, had his annual pay package almost doubled to £1.4million, despite Reed’s “ban” on bonuses.

Others took issues with Reed’s abuse of figures.

Martin Abrams, a Lambeth councillor in Reed’s Streatham (and Croydon North if he can be bothered) constituency, reacted to the Labour minister’s television claim that it would cost “upwards of £100billion to nationalise water”.

Abrams said: “This is a lie.

“This figure is from a report funded by the privatised water industry to lobby against nationalisation.

“Why is a Labour MP regurgitating industry lies?”

And more was to come this morning, when Sharkey appeared on GMB.

As the Undertones frontman pointed out, Reed and his predecessors as Secretary of State have all, and always, had the power to scrap Ofwat, reform the Environment Agency and revise their relationships with other government quangos.

“We have to think of the role the ministers have had in all this for 35 years, because the board of Ofwat, the board of the EA, were personally appointed by the Secretary of State for the environment,” Sharkey said.

“Both of those organisations operate under guidance issued by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Steve Reed. The day he came to office, he could have sacked both those boards and reissued the guidance and ordered both those organisations to proactively enforce the law…

“This is an issue about corporate greed, manipulation, profiteering, financial engineering, £74billion of debt and £84billion of dividends that these companies have ramraided…

“There is no private sector investment. Shareholders are not putting their hands in their pockets for that money, that’s why your bills have just gone up 30, 40, 50%.”

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