The government welcomes Ofwat's fines on water companies after they missed key targets on pollution, supply interruptions and falling customer satisfaction.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh insists the industry will be reformed bringing criminal liability to companies that fall short. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh insists the industry will be reformed bringing criminal liability to companies that fall short. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00What absolutely needs more powers and that's what my colleague Steve Reed has
00:04set out and we need to have criminal liability for individuals in water
00:08companies that deliberately pollute our rivers and seas. Since privatisation
00:12only three individuals have been prosecuted and despite the state of the
00:17industry at the moment so we've been really really clear the water industry
00:21is being reformed, water companies will be held liable and it's right that
00:25they've been fined properly today and are going to repay consumers. For too
00:29long the last Tory government sat back, they weakened regulation and they
00:33allowed the failing water industry to pay out dividends and bonuses whilst
00:38they weren't investing in the infrastructure that was needed. That led
00:41to raw sewage being pumped into our lakes and rivers. That's why one of the
00:46first things my colleague the Secretary of State for the Environment did when we
00:49entered office was to bring the water companies together and put them into
00:52special measures, agree to the reform.