19:30 Thomas Docherty (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)

(a) be resilient to the challenges of climate change;

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19:45 Thomas Docherty

The abstraction reform must be resilient to the challenges of climate change, or extreme weather conditions, and population growth and better protect the environment. Those high-level requirements are entirely in line with the key commitments regarding abstraction reform in the water White Paper.

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20:30 Richard Benyon

When I was in the Minister’s role, I would dearly have loved to bring meaningful abstraction reform before Parliament, but it would have been wrong to do so. As has already been said, we have been dealing with a regulatory system that dates back to the 1960s, when people did not mention the words “climate change” and we did not have the levels of population and demand that we now face, particularly in the south and east of England. When the consultation and all the work being done by the Department and the Environment Agency is over, I know that we will have about 30,000 abstractions that affect the livelihoods of our constituents and the ability of their businesses to perform and that have a huge impact on our environment. I hope that the House agrees that we must get the system right, and that we legislate in haste and repent—in opposition—at leisure. I hope that we get this right, and that the reassurance the Minister will be able to give us will set my mind, and those of other hon. Members, at rest.

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21:26 Dan Rogerson

The Bill addresses difficult challenges that we all accept that we are facing. Climate change and population growth will place our water resources under more pressure than ever before. At the same time, unfortunately, it is widely recognised that the future holds more frequent and severe weather events. We need to keep bills affordable while addressing those challenges, which means finding new approaches to encourage innovation and greater efficiency in the water industry. We also need an affordable solution to the problem of flood insurance for those at high risk of flooding.

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21:33 Maria Eagle (Labour)

Finally, it is disappointing that Ministers have rejected each of the sensible and modest proposals to improve the Flood Re scheme. The Secretary of State will have today heard the clear warnings from Sir David King, the Government’s special envoy on climate change, that changes to the climate will lead to

and more frequent severe flooding. Requiring the Committee on Climate Change regularly to advise on the increase in the number of properties likely to be at risk of flooding as a result and the consequence for the Flood Re scheme was surely a sensible move, yet it has been rejected by the Government.

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