NO CLEAR WATER

Plaid Cymru criticises Labour water nationalisation plans

Plaid Cymru has criticised Labour's plans to intervene in the water industry in Wales. Despite announcing plans to nationalise the water industry in England in order to get rid of profit-making companies, Labour has failed to answer how this would affect Wales where England-based companies operate.

Labour's plans do not say whether policy control of water will be devolved to the Assembly, or whether the nationalisation will actually remove powers from Wales.

Crucially, they do not say whether English companies, operating in Wales and using Welsh reservoirs, such as Severn Trent, would be taken under English public ownership, leading to Welsh consumers having to pay the English public to use their own water resources.

Water has a specific resonance in Welsh politics as an issue of contention. Controversial decisions in the past have been made by governments and local authorities outside of Wales with no regard to Welsh opinion.

Jonathan Edwards, seeking re-election as MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, has previously called a number of votes in the House of Commons on giving the National Assembly and Welsh Government the ability to regulate Wales' water and other natural resources. A vote in the House of Commons on a Plaid Cymru amendment to remove the UK Government’s veto over Welsh water policy was defeated thanks to the Tories voting against and the Labour Party abstaining.

The recently enacted Wales Act allows the removal of the UK Government’s veto only to replace it with a “protocol” which would require the Welsh Government to seek the agreement of the UK Government before making any changes that would impact on water supply in England.

Mr Edwards said that both Labour and the Tories must stop interfering in the water industry in Wales and allow it to be determined by elected Welsh Governments. He further added that Plaid Cymru had a positive vision for the future of the water industry in Wales.

Plaid Cymru’s Jonathan Edwards said:

"Labour's plans show a complete lack of understanding of the water industry in Wales. I doubt they have consulted their own Labour Welsh First Minister, who is on record as wanting these powers devolved. It demonstrates how the Labour Party is totally London-centric.

"Plaid Cymru agrees in principle with public ownership of water, but this must be implemented by Wales, for Wales, not imposed on us by a Westminster government. 

“Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water is already constituted as a not-for-profit company and Labour's plans would not be completely relevant here. But much of Wales’ water resources are owned by England-based multi-national companies, not Dwr Cymru. Nationalising English water companies could potentially mean Welsh consumers being forced to pay another country to use our own water. That would be wholly unacceptable.

"There are three water companies operating in Wales and any plans to merge them into a single entity, if that would benefit our citizens, must be taken by a Welsh Government, not a British Government.

"Plaid Cymru will vote in favour of any nationalisation plans which also transfer policy control to elected Welsh Governments. But we will oppose any plans which keep those powers at Westminster.

"In order to promote a positive vision for water in Wales, whereby communities and citizens benefit from the stewardship and care of our own resources, we must have the power to do this in Welsh hands. No longer should we tolerate decisions on water being made outside of Wales, without any regard for our country's needs. 

“Labour’s policies for England need to respect devolution not muddy the waters further.

"Plaid Cymru is fed up of this total cluelessness from the Labour party about devolution. The country deserves better."​

  

Notes:

Hansard details the debate on “Clause 44” to remove the UK Government’s veto over matters relating to water, here:

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https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-07-11/debates/9DDE4C9F-831D-440C-BEB8-48A5767FB56D/WalesBill

IT’S OUR WATER 2.0

While Wales's voice has been significantly strengthened since 1999, with various Wales related acts, we still do not have the same degree of control of our natural resources as either Scotland or Northern Ireland. Amongst our rich resources is the literal stuff of life – water. Water is likely to become a valuable resource for the people of Wales in future years, and who owns, it who controls it, and who benefits is likely to remain one of the key issues, of potential dispute between Westminster and Cardiff Bay.

The issue of water still understandably raises strong emotions and stirs long memories here in Wales. Five years ago Boris Johnson (who was the then solely Mayor of London, but, after May 2015 an MP and after June 2016 other things) started wittering on about a network of canals being needed to carry water from the wet North to the dry South (for the ‘wet North’ in reality read much of ‘Wales).

Now Boris's revolutionary thought, along with his poor grasp of geography, was no new idea, in 1973, the then Water Resources Board, the government agency (now defunct) produced a major report that advocated building a whole raft of infrastructure to aid the movement of water, not to mention constructing freshwater storage barrages in the Ouse, Wash and Morecambe Bay, using a network of canals to move water from north to south, extending reservoirs and building new aqueducts, not to mention constructing a series of tunnels to link up river basins to aid the movement of water.

Despite the demise of the Water Resources Board in 1974 (ironically some two years before the 1976 drought) and its replacement by regional water management bodies, which were privatised in the 1980’s this issue has never really gone away. In 2006, the Environment Agency produced a report entitled "Do we need large-scale water transfers for south-east England?” in a refreshingly honest answer to its own question at the time was an emphatic ‘no’. 

The plan for water in 1973

Yet faced with a prolonged period of drought in the South East of England, DEFRA itself held a drought summit on the 20th of February of 2012. The then Con Dem Government stated that it remained committed to the remaining legislative measures set out in its Water for Life agenda, which later became the Water Industry (Financial Assistance) Act.

That is as they say history, but whatever Westminster eventually decides to do in relation to water resources, we in Wales still need to have full democratic control of our own resources. We could begin the process with repatriating control of the Crown Estates and transferring control of lands in (and off-shore) to the Welsh Government in Cardiff. For the life of me I can see no realistic reason why this feudal anachronism cannot be consigned to the dustbin of history. 

We need to take a long hard look at our water resources and what we get for them and how we can develop them. I see absolutely no reason why the Welsh people cannot fully benefit from any future exploitation of Welsh resources, including our water. We need a whole Wales strategy to develop and to conserve our water supplies and our planning regulations will need to be tweaked or rewritten accordingly. 

Cofiwch Dryweryn

Most politically aware people would not have been particularly shocked to discover purely coincidentally that the Government of Wales Act (2006) thanks to Peter Hain (amongst others) specifically excluded the Assembly from making any laws relating to water supply – hmm – odd that isn't it?  Such duplicitous behaviour on the part of New or re-born Old Labour is not to be unexpected – but it does little to engender any trust or visible demonstration of an understanding of devolution or Wales, especially when Labour starts talking about re-nationalising the Water industry.

Tory and Labour spin and election rhetoric aside, the bottom line is that our water resources should belong to the Welsh people, not to Private corporations or to the UK Government. Any potential future draft Wales Bill should strengthen the powers that we in Wales have over our natural resources and associated planning processes and devolve control of those parts of the Severn Trent water franchise to Wales.

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