Steve Reed doubles down on Scottish water claims

UK environment secretary Steve Reed has doubled down on his claims that water management in Scotland is worse than in England in a war of words with Stephen Flynn.

The pair have this week traded criticisms over water management on either side of the border.

The process is nationalised in Scotland under Scottish Water, while Reed and the UK Government are resisting calls to end privatisation in England, where households are billed for water used.

The matter has also drawn in the Scottish Government, with Reed urged to withdraw his remarks after telling Channel 4 News that "pollution levels in Scotland are worse than they are in England".

Quoting from a report by the Independent Water Commission, Scottish climate minister Gillian Martin said its results show that "Scotland has a higher performance" than England, with 66 per cent of water bodies deemed to be of good ecological status, compared with 16.1 per cent in England.

Flynn, the SNP's Westminster leader, took the matter up in the Commons, asking Reed to correct his assertion that "pollution in rivers in Scotland is worse than in England".

Flynn said data provided by the House of Commons Library stated that while 14 per cent of English rivers meet expected quality standards, the same is true of 58 per cent of those in Scotland.

Now the Labour minister has doubled down on his claims in a letter to Flynn which has been shared on social media.

He said statistics available from ONS and the government show "several areas where Scotland's water quality underperforms relative to England's". Reed said this includes household water usage, with 178 litres per person per day used in Scotland to the English average of 137l.

He also said the percentage of water lost to leakage in Scotland is higher than in England.

On sewer-related incidents reported to authorities, Reed said 35.8 events per 10,000 km of sewer took place in Scotland in 2023-24, compared with 35.4 for England and Wales over the same period.

And while storm overflow monitoring coverage in Scotland was at 28 per cent last year, England's was at 100 per cent.

Reed told Flynn: "These statistics confirm my assertion in the House that nationalisation does not result in better outcomes."

The comments come after Flynn accused Reed of making "pretty outrageous claims about river quality in Scotland", asking: "Why are Labour talking down Scotland?"