For years, here in our towns, we’ve seen the consequences of a broken water system right on our doorstep. For families walking the Aire and Calder, anglers lining the banks or children playing near the becks, local communities have felt the frustration of sewage spills and failing infrastructure while water bosses rewarded themselves handsomely.
Under the Conservatives, water executives awarded themselves over £112 million in bonuses and incentive payments, even as Yorkshire Water repeatedly failed environmental standards here in our region. Since 2014 alone, the company’s top team pocketed £12.9 million in bonuses, despite breaches that affected the local waterways our towns rely on for recreation, wildlife and community pride.
It is working people in our area, not the executives in distant boardrooms, who have been paying the price: higher bills, polluted rivers, and years of neglect. That is why the Labour Government has acted.
This Government has taken the toughest action in the history of our water industry. Through the new Water Act 2025, we have banned bonuses for bosses at six failing water companies including Yorkshire Water, with immediate effect. For the first time ever, executives overseeing environmental breaches or financial mismanagement will lose their bonuses. Yorkshire Water failed both environmental and customer standards, meaning its Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer are now banned from receiving bonuses.
And it doesn’t stop there. Labour has introduced tough new criminal sanctions so that water executives who cover up illegal sewage spills can face up to two years in prison; the strongest penalties ever introduced. Under the Conservatives, despite widespread illegality, barely any action was taken. After 14 years in power, the Conservatives still refused to ban bonuses for polluting water bosses and even tried to hide sewage spill figures. Working people were treated with contempt while water executives walked away with millions.
Here in Yorkshire, we know the scale of the challenge. After a serious pollution breach and enforcement action, Yorkshire Water was required to pay a £40 million enforcement package, our communities have every right to demand cleaner rivers and real accountability.
Labour’s Plan for Change includes tougher regulation, real enforcement and £104 billion of private investment committed to rebuilding our ageing water system over the next five years. That investment will matter for our communities -from preventing sewage overflows to upgrading infrastructure so our waterways are cleaner and safer for future generations.
Because it’s time for change. The job of water bosses is to clean up their act. Not to pollute, mislead regulators, or fail consumers. They should face real consequences — including losing their bonuses and, where they commit serious offences, a potential prison sentence.
Across Yorkshire, our rivers, waterways and seashores should become the pride in our communities once more.