Labour pledges to ban water company CEO bonuses to stop ‘stinking toxic’ sewage entering UK rivers and seas

Labour has pledged it will “turn the page” on “years of Conservative negligence” by giving the water regulator Ofwat powers to ban water firm bosses getting bonuses when they pump huge amounts of sewage into UK waterways. Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, Steve Reed MP, said “stinking sewage” is in our rivers and seas due to “13 years of Tory government”.

The party has outlined “special measures” it will implement to end the sewage crisis which include ensuring that water bosses face personal criminal liability for extreme and persistent lawbreaking. The measures also include introducing severe and automatic fines for illegal discharges and forcing all water companies to monitor every single water outlet.

In Labour’s new plans, Ofwat would have been able to block six out of nine water bosses’ bonuses last year due to high levels of pollution into our rivers, lakes and seas. According to Reed, £10 million in bonuses was paid to water firm executives last year. Anglian Water has two CEO’s and altogether paid them a whopping £1,320,447 last year.

Labour’s plans come after water companies have asked customers to pay an extra £156 a year, despite their bosses pocketing millions in bonuses. Previously, anti-sewage group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) slammed water companies for overseeing “decades of mismanagement, all the while syphoning off tens of billions to shareholders and paying the fat cats at the top huge pay and bonuses.”

In May Ofwat announced it was tightening its rules on how much water firm CEO’s get in bonuses after it was found customers were funding these payments despite the companies pouring sewage into our waterways. The regulator said it would regularly review all executive director bonus payments and expects water company remuneration committees to take full account of performance for customers and the environment, and performance overall.

At the time, Ofwat CEO, David Black, said “in too many cases, bonuses paid do not reflect the reality of company performance” and “customer trust is damaged.”

Reed said the water industry is “broken” with “stinking, toxic sewage” and it is “shocking that during a cost-of-living crisis, consumers are now being expected to pay the price, whilst CEOs are pocketing millions in bonuses.” He added: “This Conservative government is too weak to tackle this scandal. They cut back enforcement and monitoring against water companies releasing this filth, and are now failing to prosecute bosses when they are blatantly breaking the law. Labour will turn the page on years of Conservative negligence. With Labour, the polluter - not the public - will pay. Labour will give Ofwat the powers to ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses until they have cleared up their filth.”