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.
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