Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has won a landslide victory in the UK election. “We did it!” he said in his victory speech. “Change begins now.”
But what change can we expect to see for the UK water industry, as the new government takes charge?
In Labour’s 2024 party manifesto, the climate and nature crisis was described as ‘the greatest long-term global challenge we face‘. The heart of their approach to tackling this challenge is their Green Prosperity Plan, which focuses heavily on clean energy, industries of the future and bolstering the green economy.
When discussing the nation’s water, the manifesto promised to tackle the ‘nature emergency‘, specifically dealing with the pollution of rivers and seas, improving access to nature, promoting biodiversity and protecting landscapes and wildlife.
In March this year, Labour’s sewage pollution plan highlighted the bonuses that water industry bosses had awarded themselves, and suggested these would come to an end. The Party promised to tackle what it described as ‘failing’ water companies.
The plan included:
- Giving the water regulator powers to block the payment of any bonuses
- Water bosses who oversee repeated law-breaking will face criminal charges
- Ending self-monitoring and forcing all companies to monitor every single water outlet under independent supervision
- Introducing severe and automatic fines that water companies can’t afford to ignore for illegal sewage discharges
As we welcome in a new leader, only time will tell if the the UK water industry can welcome in a new era.
