• Thames Water Appeal: Company must be put into Special Administration
• Hull leader Mike Ross calls for emergency COBRA meeting in light of North Sea collision
• DEFRA halting incentives another “outrageous” attack on farming communities

Thames Water Appeal: Company must be put into Special Administration

Today, Liberal Democrat MP Charlie Maynard will be appealing the High Court’s judgment on plans that would see an additional £3bn debt added to Thames Water’s existing debt of more than £16bn. Commenting ahead of the appeal, Charlie Maynard said:

Today I am fighting for the 16 million customers who have been left to foot the bill of Thames Water’s mismanagement.

Both Ofwat and the government have buried their head in the sand, as firms such as Thames Water ramp up billions of pounds of extraordinarily expensive debt while continuing to pump tonnes of disgusting sewage into British rivers and seas.

This cannot continue, and the Liberal Democrats will lead from the front and fight to protect customers. The ultimate question is who should bear the costs of the disastrous way Thames Water has been run. The shareholders and creditors who were responsible for making those decisions, or the customers who have had to put up with poor service at extortionate prices.

The solution is obvious. Thames Water must be put into Special Administration, so much of the debt can be written off and the company put onto a stable financial footing.

Hull leader Mike Ross calls for emergency COBRA meeting in light of North Sea collision

Liberal Democrat leader of Hull City Council, Mike Ross, has called for COBRA to be convened in response to the North Sea collision and fuel spill.

It comes following the collision of two ships off the coast of Withernsea, East Yorkshire, with a risk of fuel leaking into the Humber estuary, and the Aviation, Maritime and Security Minister’s update to the Commons.

Ross said COBRA was needed to avoid potential “environmental catastrophe” adding, “It is only right and proper that all available resources are used to try to contain and limit the damage.”

This follows Liberal Democrat calls for a rapid response plan from the Government as the incident unfolded yesterday, and for an urgent meeting in East Yorkshire.

Council leader Mike Ross said:

The Government needs to convene COBRA as soon as possible. This has the potential to be an environmental catastrophe. It is only right and proper that all available resources are used to try to contain and limit the damage.

We urgently need to see the scale of the area affected assessed and the level of pollution resulting from the crash. That’s why I’m calling on Keir Starmer to convene COBRA today.

People across Hull and East Yorkshire, and especially Holderness, deserve assurances that their local communities, coastline and wildlife will be safe. We will only get this assurance if the Government acts quickly.

DEFRA halting incentives another “outrageous” attack on farming communities

Responding to DEFRA halting new applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP said:

This is nothing short of outrageous and another attack on farming communities by this government.

There is no hiding that this is a real cut and will come as a body blow for farmers. Farmers who are already losing the vast majority of basic payments this year and who should rightly be rewarded for good environmental work.

Make no mistake, it will be the smaller farmers who will be hardest hit – especially hill farmers and those on significantly less than the minimum wage.

Labour are compounding the damage done to our farmers by the Conservatives who left the farming budget with an underspend of hundreds of millions. This is a huge hit to our food security and to farmers’ efforts to protect our environment. This is a continuation of the Tory attacks on farm payments and amounts to a betrayal.