Manuela Perteghella MP has backed a Lib Dem deadline of 31 December for a full plan to fix the water industry, and says Severn Trent has failed local customers.
Stratford-on-Avon’s MP, Manuela Perteghella, has backed a Liberal Democrat deadline of 31 December for the Prime Minister to publish a full plan to fix the water industry. If no plan appears by then, the party says Andy Burnham should come to Parliament and explain why his Environment Secretary, Dame Angela Eagle, has made so little progress in more than 100 days in the job.
The MP turned her fire on the company that supplies most of the constituency.
“It is an absolute insult to local families that Severn Trent is reporting profits while our local environment is routinely trashed, and our water bills continue to rise,” she said.
Most of the Stratford-on-Avon constituency is served by Severn Trent, her office told us; Thames Water serves its southern tip.
What the MP said
In a statement sent to Stratford Avon News on 9 November, Ms Perteghella said:
“The executives of the water companies should hang their heads in shame. For years, people across my constituency have watched in anger as our rivers have been pumped full of filthy sewage, all while foreign asset managers and corporate executives pocket billions.
“These companies have knowingly failed the environment, and they have routinely and knowingly failed customers too.
“It is an absolute insult to local families that Severn Trent is reporting profits while our local environment is routinely trashed, and our water bills continue to rise.”
The statement does not give Severn Trent’s profit figures or local sewage spill numbers. Severn Trent is not quoted in it.
Why the end of the year
According to the Liberal Democrats, the Prime Minister told Labour conference on 29 September that he would bring in a strengthened Water Bill and a 10-year water reform programme, including lifting the restrictions on government ownership of water companies. He spoke of a “10-year journey to a very different water system”.
The party says ministers briefed that the 10-year plan would follow the Budget. “The Budget has come and gone, and there is still no plan, no Bill and no decision on the future of Thames Water,” its release says. Dame Angela Eagle became Environment Secretary in Mr Burnham’s first reshuffle in July.
The party’s environment spokesperson, Tim Farron MP, said:
“Andy Burnham talked up water in his conference speech earlier this year, but speeches don’t stop sewage, and families paying ever higher bills can’t wait years for a ten-year plan to start.
“Angela Eagle has been in the job for more than three months and we’ve had warm words, reviews and a worsening water scorecard. Thames Water is still limping on, the regulators are still recycling staff into the companies they’re meant to police, and our rivers are still being used as open sewers.
“The Prime Minister has until the end of the year. Publish a proper plan or come to Parliament and explain why his new Environment Secretary has achieved so little.”
The figures behind the demand
The release cites these figures, with the sources the party gives:
- 16 out of 36 stars: the Environment Agency’s Environmental Performance Assessment of water companies for 2025, published on 29 October in the first joint Water Industry Performance Insights report from the four water regulators (the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Ofwat). The party says performance has fallen again.
- £70 billion of debt and £83 billion in dividends (adjusted for inflation) since privatisation, from the party’s September conference motion, “Restoring our Waters”.
- 3 billion litres a day lost to leaks on average in England and Wales, with Thames Water alone losing 592 million litres a day, from the same motion.
- 107,822 hours of sewage pumped into rivers and lakes by Thames Water last year, from the same motion.
- 29 former Ofwat staff took jobs in the water sector in five years, according to the party’s Freedom of Information request to Ofwat: 10 at regulated water and sewerage companies, 2 at trade bodies or lobbying groups and 17 at sector consultancies. A second request found 12 former Environment Agency staff joined regulated water and sewerage companies in ten years.
What the Liberal Democrats want in the plan
The party is asking the government to:
- Put Thames Water into special administration immediately, as a first step towards customer ownership as a mutual.
- Abolish Ofwat and replace it with a Clean Water Authority, and end the movement of staff between the regulators and the industry.
- Turn failing water companies into customer-owned mutuals that put surpluses into pipes and treatment works rather than dividends.
- Require companies to publish live data on the volume of sewage spills, not only how long they last.
- Bring in a single national social tariff so no household is pushed into water poverty.
What it means for you
Nothing changes for Severn Trent or Thames Water customers in the district yet: this is a political demand, not a decision. The deadline the party has set is 31 December. We will report whether the government publishes its water plan by then.
Ms Perteghella’s office publishes her updates through her newsletter and at manuela.uk. Her constituency office is on 01789 453077 (Monday, Thursday and Friday).
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