Emma Hardy

Emma Hardy

Labour — Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice

Speaking in the House of Commons on 16 October 2026

Debate

Drought Conditions: England

Contribution

I agree with my hon. Friend that we absolutely need to be putting people first; the Prime Minister could not have been clearer when he talked about public control. She is also right to highlight the lack of resilience we have seen building up. Many water companies have areas that are like islands within them, where they are unable to move water around the network—they simply do not have the resilience required. That shows a complete failure of the regulatory system of the previous 14 years that allowed the situation to develop. One really important thing we are looking at in the water Bill is having resilience standards so that a company can move water from a part of its network where there is an excess to a part where there is not. You would think, Madam Deputy Speaker, that they would have developed that very basic thing by now.

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