Member

The final sanction for judging regulators’ performance rests with customers and employees. That is why the amendment proposes that they should be given powers to vote on the remuneration of Ofwat’s directors. If directors have performed badly, what is wrong with the employees and customers saying that they do not deserve their pay, bonus or any other privilege? It seems that Parliament is often too reluctant to extend democracy. I will not go back through history to talk about the suffragettes or anything else, but there have been many episodes where the broader democratisation of society has been resisted. I am already hearing that that would be the case here as well, with noble Lords saying the amendment is unworkable; it is not.