Steve Reed

Steve Reed

Labour (Co-op) — Streatham and Croydon North

Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025

Debate

Independent Water Commission

Contribution

I agree with the right hon. Member on one point—that we should be cracking down on tax avoidance; it is always worth looking into that. On his earlier point, I am much more interested in the purity of our water than the purity of our ideology. The figure of £100 billion as the cost of buying out the water companies if any Government wanted to nationalise them was provided by officials in my Department with no external influence on them. This country cannot afford it, and we also cannot afford the worsening of sewage in our waterways during the years it would take to unpick the current model of ownership.

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