Original subtitles

This programme contains strong language from the start

I'm not sure if I'm going to go in. Really? Yeah.

You'll be fine. It'll be cold. Fear of drowning.

Oh, maybe. You try it for a bit. I'll go first.

Looking good. Looking rough. Scaredy-cat.

I'm not sure. Don't fancy it?

Reuben!

Reu...!

No prints, nothing taken or disturbed.

No. Unfortunately, the... the blood sample

wasn't big enough for the lab to get a full DNA read.

It's disappointing.

Wow.

I really thought there was enough for a full sample.

Apparently not.

What about the glove mark?

Not enough resolution for them to do anything with.

You know, I took photos of the house right

after the break-in. And nothing was touched?

No.

Or they put everything back in its place,

which is what you would do if you were installing a listening device.

I've applied for warrants to do exactly that.

You were a copper? Serious crime squad,

covert surveillance unit, counter corruption.

I'm innocent.

Well, I mean, um...

...as you know, we've done a couple of sweeps.

Er, nothing.

No. Me neither. So, um, you know, there's not much more we can do.

OK.

HE PANTS

HE GROANS AND BREATHES HEAVILY

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE RINGS

But you've worked in surveillance, haven't you, for years?

So you're telling me you can't actually see

if they've got a new computer or not?

No.

I've done what I can to check, but you just can't tell now.

You see, there's this incognito spyware -

runs a keylogger in the background,

which means they can record every key you press,

every mouse click,

they can see the emails you write, your messages,

your passwords, etc - everything.

But they build it so you don't know it's there.

What do the... What did the police say? Well, an officer came out.

He took a sample of the blood.

There was some blood on the handle downstairs,

and he thought he could see a disposable glove mark in it,

which means that whoever

did it wants to make sure they're untraceable.

He did think they could find a DNA result.

And then nothing. Nothing happens.

What do you think this is?

Anything they can find to discredit us.

Something that would look good on

the cover of the Daily Mail, for example. I mean,

I can't think of anything that, you know, I mean...

Well, you know what it is. What's that?

It's the free jazz.

If that gets out, we're fucked. Oh, fuck off!

But who would want to discredit us? I don't know.

It could be a burglar who just got scared and legged it.

Yeah, well. Or he could have just seen Charla's Hawaiian cushions.

Don't say that in front of Charla. I'm not going to do that.

I want to hang on to my balls.

You know, the other day when this happened,

the first thing I did was pick up the phone to you.

Yeah. No, I saw that. I did see it. Yeah.

You probably saw it. I hung up just to... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just think that what we need now is... We need, um...

We need a whistleblower, don't we?

And we need someone from inside the agency... And high up.

From the top. Yeah.

Uh, Eileen said that we must be making a difference.

Did she? Yeah. She did.

So come on, let's, um... That's the point, isn't it? Yeah, we are.

There's no point doing this unless we make a difference.

No, let's keep going. Let's keep going.

And let's find that fucking whistleblower. Right?

"June 2019. Sir James Bevan, Environment Agency.

"Dear Sir James, I'm writing to your office,

"as I'm sure you will know where to direct the question."

"October 2019. Dear Sir James,

"I wrote to you to raise concerns about

"a serious integrity issue involving the agency."

"Dear Sir James,

"34 days have now passed since I sent you evidence.

"I've given up expecting a reply from you."

TYPING "Dear Ashley,

"I am in receipt of your email to Sir James.

"Would you mind coming to our office and would the 19th suit?"

Is Sir James not coming? I'm afraid not.

No. Sir James wouldn't routinely

attend meetings at this kind of level.

I'd hoped he'd be here.

He's time poor. Yeah. He's aware of your work.

Well, er, well, we're trying to find out,

what you're going to do about

the illegal sewage overflow, at Bourton.

The combined storm overflow. Yeah.

The combined storm overflow at Bourton

has shown no detectable effects on the water quality.

The water quality is stable and not deteriorating.

I mean, our data shows very clearly

that we have the best quality water since the Industrial Revolution.

The water's turned brown. Yeah.

It's turned so brown that when it joins

the Thames at Newbridge,

it makes the Thames look like a Swiss mountain stream.

Uh, the... the water is brown

in places, but that's a natural phenomenon.

It's caused by geological fault.

A geological fault? Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.

A geological fault is millions of years old.

Mm. We remember when the water was clear.

No-one remembers the good old days before the geological fault.

In the last 12 months since we installed sensors,

there's been no evidence of pollution.

That's because you've installed

the monitors upstream from the sewage pipes.

Now, is that incompetence or an attempt to cover up a scandal?

No, no. The agency would never position

a monitor to achieve a particular reading.

We are working extremely hard to transform the environment.

We've improved and protected something like,

I think it's 15,000km of river. I'm sorry,

but you've had 92 complaints from

the general public about sewage pollution,

and that's just the Windrush.

I've actually got the breakdown here.

It's, er... Yeah, yeah. Er...

In... Er... Well,

in 36 of those cases, there was no offence,

and in 39 there was insufficient evidence.

And in six we were unable to identify the offender.

Oh, what do you mean, you couldn't identify the offenders?

Why can't you identify the offenders?

There's seven sewage works along the Windrush.

They're all run by Thames Water. So I mean,

you say you've got insufficient evidence,

but we keep giving you the evidence.

All we ever do is give you the evidence.

And all we get back is "It's under investigation."

And then nothing, nothing, nothing ever happens.

In exceptional circumstances, for example,

after heavy rain, the sewage systems are allowed to overflow.

No. No, you see, that's not... That's not the law.

The law is that in all normal climatic conditions,

including heavy rainfall,

the water companies have to treat the sewage.

They have to make it safe

before they put it back into the river.

The law is a grey area. No, no, it's not a grey area.

With respect, it's the law. Sorry... Can I...?

Sorry.

Thames had their own data -

it shows they stopped treating sewage

at Northleach for more than three months.

Now, they told us that their sensors had broken down,

but we think they're lying.

They're ly... They're lying? So why would they do that?

Why would they lie to you?

LIFT DINGS

Doors closing.

We're Potemkin regulators.

Sorry?

The regulation isn't real.

The government want us to look like

a regulator, but they won't let us do our job.

OK.

When Cameron and Truss gutted the agency,

we went from regulating the industry to doing its bidding.

Do you think we could take your number?

Look, just keep going.

This is going to be the first government in modern history that,

at the end of its parliamentary term,

has less regulation

in place than there was at the beginning.

We've now identified

those 3,000 regulations that we're going to scrap.

Let's reduce the amount and the burden of regulation...

Strangled by red tape...

Cut back the health and safety, monster...

Cut guidance by 80%,

and reduce farm inspections by 34,000 every year.

Regulations will go.

None of my ministers could introduce a regulation

unless they abolished one at the same time.

Massively reduce the number of rules,

laws and regulations

that frankly treat all of you like idiots.

So really, it's about stripping out as much unnecessary regulation

as possible and taking responsibility

for climate change and saying,

"What more can we do to get us to net zero?"

As you know,

this is a passion project for Sir James,

who feels that we can bring our car usage down by 70%.

Yeah. It's... Yeah. So from next month,

we're going to be taking the bold

decision to cut back decisively on our car leases.

Yeah. Come on. Sorry. Just, like, to clarify,

what, you're going to get rid of our cars?

So it's about reducing the agency's carbon footprint.

Just getting that... Yeah.

Go ahead, Hanna. The cars that we drive to the inspections in?

Right. Yeah. So... So self monitoring

and a more desk-based regulation is really... It's really

helping us move the needle on climate change.

But the... the remaining inspections? Well, yeah.

How do we get to those without a car? Yeah.

That's a great question. It's a really great question.

Um, we'll take that forward to the next discussion meeting.

Thanks, Hanna.

Yeah, lovely. Great. Thanks, everyone.

Not easy news to break, is it? Surprise, surprise - Debbie's

got something to say. I know, but my car...

Everyone's driving cars. We're the Environment Agency.

Absolutely. You should keep your... What's wrong with the train?

I'll keep mine, I think. So, yeah. Yeah.

Mm. Coffee? How do I get a coffee?

Does anybody know what we're looking at?

Anybody?

OK, could you tell me what the reactants are?

So, if you move your head even slightly,

the vertigo gets more intense. Yeah.

And the attacks are happening maybe twice a week?

About that, yeah.

The good news is that you don't have cancer.

We actually think it's Meniere's. It's a disease of the inner ear.

The main symptom is acute vertigo episodes,

vomiting, tinnitus.

It's a pretty neat fit with your presentation.

STUDENTS MUTTER

They were dumping sewage...

...in the water the last time before I got sick.

Right. You know that from...?

The Surfers Against Sewage app. OK.

And might that be...? The causes are unclear.

It's post-viral. This often starts

with an ear infection in that they're common in surfers.

Yeah. Every surfer I know.

HE RETCHES Oh, my God!

This is a chronic condition.

I'm afraid there's no cure.

Should we move the table away?

Just hold his back.

So by ending on-site Inspections into

categories three and four,

no or low-impact pollution events,

and doubling down on the more serious

category one and two incidents,

we think we can turn ourselves into a more effective fighting unit.

Yeah. So from today we are

ending on-site inspections for cats three and four.

Any questions?

Well, yeah. Um...

A category three incident can be two kilometres of sewage.

Mm-hm.

We want you to not inspect,

to not spend time on these incidents.

Except that since the water companies have been self-reporting,

they almost always only report category threes and fours.

So they're not actually reporting the serious incident.

And so if the water companies are only reporting...

Threes and fours. ...threes and fours,

and we're no longer allowed to investigate...

So what exactly are we going to be doing? Wha...?

I've told the government you get the regulation you pay for.

We no longer have the money to go on inspecting

low-grade pollution events.

We need you to shut down these reports as unsubstantiated,

or to silently pass them

and to not report them as pollution incidents.

Is that clear?

Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.

Get on with your day. Yeah.

I'll just...

The utter fuck? Fucking wankers!

How are you gonna get to fucking work?

Fuck knows.

Horseback. SHE CHUCKLES

What time did he call you? 10:30 last night.

He said you couldn't miss it.

Oh, my God, look at it.

I'll get some shots and we'll call the agency on the way back.

TYPES ON KEYBOARD

TYPES ON KEYBOARD

Debbie... Mm?

...are you driving in to work tomorrow?

Yeah, obviously. How else would I get in?

Well, can I borrow your car at lunchtime?

What for?

Someone keeps calling up and complaining

about the same incident.

It's near the bridge at Hawk Rise, so I'm gonna go and take a look.

Shh! OK.

Bit freelance investigation? Bit of freelance.

And also, it needs to be off the books,

and I need you to promise me not to tell Sophie.

Not gonna tell Sophie. You're not going to tell Sophie?

Obviously no, I don't tell Sophie anything.

TENSE MUSIC PLAYS

TENSE MUSIC BUILDS

Hi. Hi. Is that...? Is that Justine?

Hi, Justine. Um, it's Hanna from the Environment Agency.

Listen, it's about the, um...

...the pollution event at Hawk Rise. Um...

...it came through the system at a duration of 1.34 hours.

And I'm here now, and it's still going.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm here now. Yeah.

The CSO is still discharging untreated sewage.

I mean, there's a section of the river that is covered over

with dried sewage.

I mean, there's dead fish. You can see them from the footpath.

I mean, you're going to get more complaints.

You need to sort this.

Can you prepare and cook a simple meal unaided?

Yeah, but not when I'm having an attack.

Then I can't do anything. I can't... I can't move.

Can you eat and drink unaided?

Yeah, but again, not when I'm having an attack.

And I've been getting the attacks

every few days for the past six months.

But if you're not having one of your attacks,

can you eat and drink unaided?

Yeah, but... Yes or no is fine.

Yes.

Can you dress and undress unaided?

It's the same answer.

Moving on to the mobility section of this assessment,

can you plan and follow a journey unaided?

Yeah, but not when I'm having an attack.

Stand and move for 200m?

Not when I'm having an attack.

You know, can you move around, walk for 200m?

Of course I can, but not when I'm having an attack.

OK. Thank you, Mr Santer.

Your total score for the daily living part of the assessment is

zero points.

Your total score for the mobility section is zero points.

When you're not having an attack...

No, no, no. ...you're able to do all the tasks

I asked you about. That's the thing with my condition...

You can wash your face... ...is that sometimes...

...you can... ..I can do these things and other times I can't.

And when I can't, I can't do anything.

I can't award you Personal Independence Payment. No, but...

I don't know what to do. If you need further guidance

about how to appeal, you can use the webchat to get some help.

If you cannot access the webchat,

you can contact the Benefits Appeal helpline

on 0300160... VOICE FADES

Hanna... Oh, shit. Sorry. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you.

Um, do you have a second? Can I have a word?

Of course. Yeah? OK,

so I've just... I just got off

the phone to Justine Wright Phillips at the water company.

Yeah. She said you called her.

Yeah I... Yeah. ..I did.

OK. She said you called her from the site.

Well, I saw that it had been logged on

the system for the fifth time, and people kept calling up,

complaining, and nobody was doing anything about it.

But we don't have the revenue

to be investigating category threes.

It's not a category three, Sophie.

The river is dried over with excrement.

You can see it from...

So that's what I wanted to talk to you about.

So Justine says

that the dispersal rate in that area is really high.

Is it? Yeah. But... She says... She says there's like a strong

current and a high dispersal. The overflow pipe has been

discharging for over 36 hours and it is still going... All right.

...untreated... That is the water company's responsibility

to report to us. You know this.

OK. And Justine says that actually really,

the, um... Because of the high dispersal rate,

that it should come down to a category four.

Be a category four? Yes. Right. Mm-hm.

So no impact on the environment?

No action needed? Yes.

Mm-hm.

Oh, you want me to change it on the system.

Would you, could you?

Yeah. OK. Thanks so much. Thank you.

That's great. Lovely.

Wow.

So you see how well we're doing? Yeah, of course.

You joking? I'm not joking.

You know Sroic?

No. What's that?

Strategic review of incident charges, yeah?

It's like what we charge the clients for permits...

Sorry, we don't have clients, Cheryl,

we're an environment agency. Yes. OK, yeah.

Sorry, yes, we don't have clients, but...

...Sir James has put the prices up. Yeah?

And I'm talking like up-up, big time.

What, he's charging the water companies more?

Yep. Well, they must...

Surely, they've gone down to the government, like, lobbying them,

going mad, getting the charges taken down.

No. Not a peep.

Not a peep? Sorry, that makes no sense.

They're just paying it.

We've basically had such a high revenue spike, yeah?

That we are on our way to becoming a client-funded regulator.

Sorry. Hold on one minute. This is going a bit...

So you're saying

that the water companies are funding the Environment Agency?

Wow. That's what you're really...? It's happening.

You see the you see the issues there? You can't be serious.

A client-funded regulator.

Amazing isn't it? How can that even be a thing?

It's a thing. Well, hold on, because literally the other day,

Sir James said that you get the regulation that you pay for.

Yeah. That we haven't got

the money to do the investigations that we used to do.

Nobody's paying for them. OK. That's your area, isn't it?

I mean, all I know is that we have

got more cash than we've ever had before.

Just making conversation.

I've got the job. Postman? Mm-hm.

No! Yeah. Did you?

- Yeah. - Oh! HE LAUGHS

Yeah, really good timing.

Uh-huh?

Because I did two pregnancy tests this morning.

What? And, yeah. I'm pregnant.

What? Yeah. Pregnant.

No. Yeah!

I sort of just had a funny feeling and then...

Yeah. Did one test - two lines.

And then I did another test and it said two lines as well,

and I was like...

...fuck! SHE LAUGHS

I'm Susan Davy. I am the CEO of Southwest Water.

Basically, the wet weather events... Storm overflow...

...put a strain on our Victorian networks,

And unfortunately, we have

a Victorian sewage system which we have inherited.

And that means things do go wrong.

Just say, "Victorian sewage network."

12%.

12%? What's 12%?

12% of the sewage system is Victorian.

What do they tell you?

That the whole of the system was Victorian,

so that meant that the investment would be so high

that it'd be impossible to actually fix it all.

Bollocks! Shall I tell you what stopped it?

When privatisation came in, they just stopped spending.

After the war they kept upgrading,

then after privatisation came in,

they just stopped.

Not just Thames, all of them.

6% new plants is privatisation.

6%? 6%.

Is that all? You know, it would be good

if we could maybe come and visit one of the works.

I don't know about that. Well, I'll have to see,

lads, honestly, because...

...even just doing this, I feel a bit nervous.

Fucking London Stadium, that's not a proper stadium.

Fucking massive.

Upton Park - now, that was a proper stadium, mate.

London Stadium's too big,

you need fucking binoculars,

you know what I mean? Yeah.

Sorry, Pete, did you want to see an EDM?

Oh, yes. Yes, that's the one, well remembered.

So this is an event duration monitor.

Now, we fitted one of these on every sewage pipe in England.

In 2012, right, the coalition government,

they ordered all the water companies to record

how much time they spend dumping raw sewage.

These little units,

they measure how much poo goes into the river by hours.

Management have been dragging their feet

for eight years now,

CAMERA CLICKS but we're finally getting most of it in now.

And the agency, they've got to publish the numbers?

They have to by law.

They're not going to like it but tough shit.

EDMs.

Yes. Uh...

So, uh, we are finalising plans

for the statutory publication of the EDM numbers.

As you know, there have been some technical delays,

but it looks like they're almost ready.

And, uh, they're going to come as a bit of a shock.

Uh, the data's going to show

that the water companies discharged raw sewage...

...400,000 times in 2020.

That's 1,100 times a day...

...for a total of 3.1 million hours.

It is a bit of a shocker.

Can I just say that, um...

Since operator self-monitoring,

we've had to rely on the water companies to report back to us.

Yeah, I think that the key here is

that this doesn't get framed as a failure of regulation.

That is... That is...

That would be quite wrong.

And and I think managing comms on this is going to be key.

And we are working actively with the water companies to...

...to bear down on the problem. Yeah.

And... But that's 1,100 criminal offences a day.

Well, that's actually... That's debatable

because that depends on the terms of the permit

and the circumstances around each spill.

Yeah, and we know the legislation

permits discharging after heavy rainfall and...

No. No, it doesn't.

Sorry, Hanna.

The law doesn't say that you can just dump sewage after heavy rain.

It says that in all normal climatic and seasonal circumstances,

the water companies have to treat the sewage,

not just dump it.

But it's not the agency's job to adjudicate legal matters.

I mean, this is actually a matter for the courts.

No, no, no, this is our job.

It's our job to enforce the law. Yeah.

That's what we're here to do.

Well...

Can you, um... Yeah.

Did you want to...? No, no, you, you finish off here,

- Sophie. - Thank you. HE CLEARS THROAT

So we've identified the problem, and now we work on the problem,

which is reframing and owning the narrative.

Yeah, we don't want this to get misconstrued

as some sort of failure on our part, because it just isn't.

Thanks, guys. Yeah, thanks. Thanks so much. Thanks.

Cool. Lovely. Thanks. Thanks so much.

By the way, um...

...so I've heard you're going to give evidence in Parliament.

Yes, yes. Amazing.

Yeah, thinking about it.

What does that mean, "Thinking about it"?

He's, uh, he's nervous.

Not like that, I'm not nervous.

He's nervous. No, it's not that I'm nervous.

I want to do it, it's just... It's difficult.

Pete... Don't worry about him.

Yeah. We're counting on you.

We are really counting on you.

And you can explain it in the scientific way.

You're going to come across brilliantly.

They're going to believe you, mate. Well, it...

It's not really as simple as that.

I mean... The boys from Mogden call me earlier, right?

And they told me that they dumped 2 billion litres

of sewage in the Thames over two days.

Environment Agency haven't got a Scooby.

Did they send you the data? I've got the data, yeah.

Right. Can you send that to us? I will send it to you.

We're not going to let you down. OK.

Thanks, Ash. Please. You can do this. Come on, Pete.

He'll be fine. It's all right. You're a legend, mate. Come on.

We now have the lowest number of serious pollution

incidents from water companies that we have yet recorded.

More water companies are now at the highest level of performance,

what we call four-star performance.

I mean, we now have the lowest number of serious pollution

incidents from water companies that we have yet recorded.

TENSE MUSIC PLAYS

COMPUTER BEEPS

I'm an environment officer at the Agency.

I investigate sewage pollution.

When I first joined, it wasn't a job to get rich on.

You know, I could see I was making a difference.

You know, corporations want to make money.

We make sure that they don't poison the rivers doing it.

We could investigate, prosecute, whatever it took.

But then they told the companies that they could...

...regulate themselves.

That's operator self-monitoring? Exactly.

Then came the Cameron cuts, then the Truss cuts.

They laid off investigators, slashed prosecutions.

I mean, they even took our cars off of us

so we couldn't visit pollution sites.

So all these cuts meant you couldn't do your job properly.

That's not it.

In 2021, Sir James hiked the prices

the water companies paid for their permits.

It was called charge funded regulation.

We get 96 million from the Government.

We are now pulling in 411 million from charges.

All these cuts, they're just a smokescreen.

We're swimming in cash.

SHE SIGHS

I am doing this because I know that it is wrong

and that it has ruined my whole working life.

Good luck.

Right.

Fucking hell.

What should we do? Well, first we read them...

...and then I think we should call some journalists.

The Environment Agency has refused to comment on

whether agency directors currently hold shares in UK water companies.

The agency claimed it would

break data protection laws if it disclosed the information.

Environment Agency chiefs secretly held

a series of private dinners with water company bosses at

the Royal Automobile Club in central London.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act

showed the meetings were held to discuss how

to quell public anger over sewage spills.

As the sewage scandal deepens,

Environment agency CEO Sir James Bevan

has been called to give evidence to a parliamentary committee.

Well, we need to talk about what we say in public

and the responsibilities we have.

You have a duty not to openly criticise

or discredit the organisation

in the media or on social media.

Or to disclose confidential

information to anyone not authorised to receive it!

If your comments inside or outside work impact on

the agency's reputation by making derogatory comments about

the organisation or your managers, or you make comments that bring

the organisation into disrepute,

you may be subject to disciplinary action.

And in more serious cases, dismissal.

Thank you.

PETER WHISPERS, REHEARSING TO HIMSELF

...over the last... Over the last ten years...

I don't think I want to do this. You'll be fine.

You need the toilet?

I'm all right, I don't need the bloody toilet.

Do you want a pie?

What does that mean?

Well, um, my garden is an island

which the Windrush wraps around.

I've watched it closely for 18 years

and I watched the water turn brown.

I led a team of scientists using

a machine-learning analysis...

..of two sewage treatment works run by Thames Water.

One of those works, the Environment Agency,

said over ten years that only two pollution incidents

had been reported.

Our machine-learning analysis

showed hundreds of illegal spills.

More than 300 lasted 24 hours,

and some longer than ten days

and some for a month.

Have you shown this evidence to the Environment Agency?

Well, yeah, I've shown the evidence many times.

What usually happens is that they,

they say that... They show a sign of interest but then nothing happens.

We work very closely with Professor Hammond of

Windrush Against Sewage Pollution.

We have a regular and very fruitful dialogue with him.

You've worked closely with Professor Hammond?

He and Ashley Smith sent you at least 13 emails detailing

evidence of illegal sewage dumping.

He published five evidenced reports

documenting water company criminality,

all of which were sent to you or your senior colleagues.

They invited you to come

and look at the river in 2019,

and the following year, sent you an email with the heading

Environment Agency Complicit in Lawbreaking.

They never heard back.

You never once replied in five years.

How did you manage to work so closely with Professor Hammond

when you never once spoke to him?

At the Thames Water Mogden treatment works, there was a spill

of 240 Olympic swimming pools of sewage in a single day.

The existing monitoring failed to pick that up.

Now, why was that?

There will always be times when something happens,

usually accidentally.

If we find that a water company has breached its permit,

we will take appropriate action.

Does appropriate action include

prosecuting water company executives?

Prosecution is a very high bar,

but where we think that's appropriate,

we wouldn't hesitate.

Did you prosecute in this case?

No.

Have you ever prosecuted any water company executives?

No, but if we thought the evidence

warranted it, we wouldn't hesitate.

Last year, you told this committee that you became aware

of sewage dumping in May 2021? Yes.

But three weeks after that, you told the committee that

the water companies were improving and that more of them were getting

four out of four stars.

Why were you telling the committee that the water companies

were doing a four-star job?

Well, you've... quoted everything I said.

I think I...I stand by everything I said.

I think you'll find them mutually consistent.

The agency's job is to make sure

the water companies obey the criminal law,

but it doesn't do it, and the water companies do whatever they want.

The alleged crimes of their directors are never prosecuted.

They've built criminality into their business models

because pollution is highly profitable

and repeat offending has no consequences.

Therefore, in the light of the remarkable absence

of any counter-corruption measures,

we demand an investigation into the Environment Agency.

The key test for me on regulation...

Less regulation.

...is it something that enables the builders, not the blockers?

Cut guidance by 80%.

We've also got to look at regulation...

Regulations will go.

...and where it is needlessly holding back the investment.

Reduce the amount and the burden of regulation.

Rip up the bureaucracy that blocks investment.

Northumbrian water recorded 30.1 spills per overflow over

the course of 2023,

280,000 hours and change in total.

The chief executive Heidi Mottram

received a bonus of £234,000 that year.

Why did you take football tickets from the parent company?

Well, I didn't. OK.

CK Hutchison Holdings owns 75%

of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings,

the owner of Northumbrian Water,

and you declared £2,000 in football tickets and hospitality.

Well, on that occasion, there was nobody from a water company

that was involved in offering those tickets, there was nobody

from a water company at that event. The parent company did.

Well, I wouldn't have known that, they weren't present...

Why didn't you know? You should have known that.

You said that these sort of people should potentially be

in the dock if they have been found to break the rules.

You took £2,000 in tickets and hospitality for a football match

from bosses linked to that company that polluted that water.

Why should people in Northumbria think that you're fit for your job?

Well, I certainly wouldn't have known that,

and judge me by what I do. Why not?

Judge me by what I do. That IS what you did.

Environment Minister Steve Reid is pursuing

legal action against a group of anglers trying to restore

the ecosystem of their local river,

on the grounds that cleaning up individual rivers

is "administratively unworkable".

Concerns have been raised about the number of leading Labour figures

with links to lobbying firms working for water companies.

Among the invited guests at the Government's

International Investment Summit was Macquarie Bank.

Described as the vampire kangaroo by critics,

Macquarie presided over the near-collapse of Thames Water,

leaving it £10 billion in debt after having illegally

dumped billions of litres of raw sewage.

Reuben?

I know I can't be left alone with her.

...privatised water is a better deal than nationalised water.

That the water privatisation, I believe,

will go very successfully indeed.

That will go very successfully indeed.

And perhaps, therefore, we had better wait and see,

so that we can pontificate in the light of the facts.

How did it come to this?

How did it...?

How did it happen that England is the only place in the whole world

whose water system is wholly privatised?

That our seas and our rivers are full of shite?

I just feel like we're trying to bring down England's

biggest organised crime syndicate.

I mean, they're not the mafia, these water companies,

they're not a drugs cartel, but they do

dump sewage a thousand times a day.

And almost all of those are illegal.

And the cash they've accumulated,

£145 billion since privatisation,

and they've got that because they seem to have built criminality

into their business models.

So they are like an organised crime syndicate

and the CEOs and the owners are like crime bosses.

I mean, they don't murder people, obviously, they're not assassins.

But me and Peter are sitting here waiting for these crime lords

to put things right.

And if we leave them to their own devices,

they never will.

They never will.

We've put the things that we own and care about together,

we've put them into the hands of financial speculators

whose job it is just to make money.

We need to put the people who care in charge.

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