Environment Secretary Steve Reed MP has announced a ban on bonuses for water company bosses, declaring the "era of profiting from pollution ends today".Speaking to GB News, Reed defended the move and claimed it was "justified" and the "right thing to do".FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00Well, it's good to be with you again, Eamon, and I think what we're doing is right, I think
00:06it's justified. I mean, I don't know whether you know how much the water company bosses
00:11paid themselves in bonuses over the last 10 years, but it's over £100 million, and all
00:19the while they were overseeing record levels of sewage pollution into our rivers, lakes,
00:24and seas. And that's just bonuses. That's just bonuses. That's not salary. That's just
00:29bonus. That was the bonuses. Now, in most people's minds, you get a bonus because you've done
00:32a good job. These people were overseeing record levels of sewage dumped in our rivers and our
00:37lakes and our seas. Well, the era of profiting from pollution ends today. We've announced,
00:44or the regulator has announced, a ban on the bonuses for those six water companies that
00:49you just named. That's two-thirds of the entire sector. We said before the general election
00:54this is what we do, promise made, promise delivered, and this is a big part of our reset
01:00of the water sector so we can finally clean up the sewage from our waterways.
01:04Now, I think most people listening to that would applaud this move because it does seem dreadful
01:09that these people get huge bonuses for not doing their job properly, frankly. But denying
01:16them their bonuses, will it actually do anything about sewage being pumped into our seas and rivers?
01:21It's a part of the package, Anne, but it's not everything. So what we're looking at doing
01:26is how can we strengthen enforcement, increase the levels of investment, and modernise the entire
01:32system. So on enforcement, we've now launched 81 separate criminal investigations into the water
01:39companies so we can find out what they're doing and hold them to account over the levels of pollution.
01:43On investment, we've secured £104 billion of private sector money. That is the biggest investment
01:51ever into our water sector. It means we can replace those broken sewage pipes and stop the flow of
01:56sewage into our rivers, our lakes, and into our seas. And in terms of modernising the system,
02:01well, I've already had an interim report last week from Sir John Cunliffe, who is leaving a review
02:06into the water sector for me. The final report will be on my desk next month. We'll then pass legislation
02:12legislation to strengthen the rules, the regulations, and the regulator so the abuses that were able to
02:19happen in the past that led to this sewage scandal can never happen again.
02:23But Steve, can they happen again? I'm just interested and I'm concerned about this.
02:28The reason people are investing in these companies, and they're usually people from overseas,
02:33companies, is that it offers a great return. It offers a great return for them for relatively
02:40little output. If that becomes less attractive, do people stop investing in our water companies?
02:50Well, I mean, the fact that we've already secured that £104 billion investment shows you that we can
02:55get the money to come in that we need. We've basically got a system that's crumbled.
03:01You know, underneath our feet are Victorian sewers. They should have been maintained over the last 10
03:06years to stop them collapsing entirely. They weren't, unfortunately. So we're bringing that
03:10money in now. And we want to work with investors, good, sensible investors, to make sure the money
03:15comes in. But it's not just about the investment. We also have to strengthen regulation. We have to
03:21give the regulators the teeth they need to stop the abuses that were going on in the past. I do not
03:26think it is an exaggeration to say that water companies were profiting from pollution.
03:30We're putting a stop to that. We want to see a successful sector that works well for customers,
03:35that works well for the environment and is attractive to investors who should get a fair
03:40return but not an excessive return.
03:42Can I just ask you about the money? Because if you're going to stop from today those bosses being
03:48able to pay themselves huge bonuses, what happens to the money that they would have paid themselves?
03:53Can that be invested elsewhere? Or was the money just going to come from us, the consumer? And will
03:59we benefit? Who will benefit financially from what you're imposing on them today?
04:04Well, just imagine, Anne, over the last 10 years, over £100 million has been given out in bonuses,
04:10despite the levels of failure that we're all so very well aware of.
04:13If that money had been invested in upgrading some of those pipes and maintaining them,
04:18perhaps they wouldn't have crumbled to the extent that they did. Perhaps we then wouldn't have seen
04:22so much sewage swilling into our waterways. We want to focus the water company bosses on fixing the
04:28problem with sewage, not just maximising their income with bonuses. And I think I said a moment ago,
04:35the British people think it's unfair that you should get a bonus for failing at your job.
04:40If you do well, all well and good. But if you're failing at your job, you shouldn't get the bonus.
04:43And that's why we've stopped it.
04:44Steve.