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Conservative MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has launched a stinging attack on South West Water, claiming that “like Russell Brand, [it is] not to be trusted”.
Liddell-Grainger accused the water company of failing its customers and described its environmental performance as “the worst in the country”, during a Westminster Hall debate.
The MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset also accused senior officials at South West of “acting like mobsters” by intimidating local journalists which he said “made Al Capone look like an angel”.
In particular, Liddell-Grainger criticised the company’s record on sewage spills and said it was “a complete joke” that the region had been subject to a hosepipe ban for more than a year. The ban in Cornwall and North Devon – which came into force in August 2022 – will finally be lifted next week.
Liddell-Grainger’s stinging assessment culminated in him likening South West Water to Russell Brand, adding that the firm is “not to be trusted”. Brand is currently facing allegations relating to sexual assault and rape, following an expose by Channel 4’s Dispatches team and The Sunday Times. Brand denies any wrongdoing.
While welcoming the government’s decision to lift the cap on water company fines, the Conservative MP questioned if the mechanism for imposing financial penalties is currently functioning as an effective deterrent.
He added: “It is good news to be able to offer limitless fines as punishment for polluting our rivers, but the whole exercise is pointless if the system of agencies cannot enforce the law. And this is what I think is happening and it shouldn’t be.”
Liddell-Grainger pointed to the recent OEP findings which ruled that Ofwat and two government departments may have broken the law by allowing water companies to discharge untreated sewage into UK waterways more times than legally permitted.
He said that there were “questions to answer” for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Ofwat adding that the whole thing is a “monumental mess”.
In response, water minister Rebecca Pow said that while South West Water “has a long way to go […] there have been some promising signs of improvement”.
Pow pointed out that the water company has recently been upgraded from one star (the lowest mark) to two stars in the Environment Agency’s annual Environmental performance assessment report.
She also said that the company is accelerating £70 million worth of projects to deliver 15 storm overflow improvement schemes and added that the water sector as a whole is “on track” to hit its target of 100% monitoring coverage for storm overflows by the end of the year.
However, Pow added that there will be “no hesitation” to impose fines on South West Water or any other water company for failures in the future.
She pointed out that the company had recently been slapped with a £2.1 million fine for environmental failings and said that the enforcement budgets at both Ofwat and the Environment Agency had been expanded to clamp down on offences.
South West Water declined to comment.
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