UK minister Steve Reed wrong on Scottish water claims, statistics chiefs find

Former UK environment minister Steve Reed was wrong on claims that Scotland’s water is dirtier than England’s, a statistics body has found.

Reed, who has since changed portfolio, claimed that pollution levels are higher north of the border than they are south of it.

The claim prompted a war of words between the Labour politician and SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and saw Scottish climate secretary Gillian Martin intervene.

Now Professor Dame Carol Propper, chair of the Regulation Committee behind the UK Statistics Authority, has poured cold water on Reed’s claims.

In a letter to SNP MP Seamus Logan, Propper says Reed used irrelevant figures to back up his argument, and made statements that were not properly sourced.

She said differences in monitoring and reporting practices between Scotland and England and Wales mean direct comparisons must be treated with caution.

But she said that existing figures do not show that Scottish beaches are in a worse state that in England’s.

Propper said: “The Authority expects that ministers take care to avoid using data that is overly selective or missing appropriate context.

“Based on the statements made without discussion of their context, sources, and limitations, there is the potential for people to be misled about English and Scottish water quality and infrastructure.

“As former chairs have said, omitting this kind of information can damage public trust in the data, so we encourage those speaking on behalf of government to ensure statistical statements are presented clearly and transparently, in a way that supports public understanding.”

Reed made a splash in the summer when, under pressure over water standards in England, he criticised the performance of Scottish Water.

The UK Government has resisted calls to nationalise systems south of the border, and Reed suggested publicly owned Scottish Water had poor results, telling Channel 4 News that “pollution levels in Scotland are worse than they are in England”.

Reed followed up with similar statements in the Commons and on social media, saying that “the SNP are managing water pollution in Scotland even worse than the Tories did in England”.

This includes a claim that there were 35.8 pollution incidents per 10,000km of sewerage network in Scotland in 2023-24, and 35.4 in England and Wales combined.

Logan, the SNP’s shadow environment spokesperson, wrote to the UKSA to seek its take.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that its source for Scotland was an analysis of Scottish Water’s annual report, with Ofwat’s water company performance report used for England and Wales to come up with a sector average.

But Propper said the water companies’ territories “do not neatly match national boundaries, so it is not simple to calculate pollution incidents in England alone”.

She said the Independent Water Commission “cautions against making these comparison between countries” due to “many differences in monitoring and reporting”, and that a report by the Commission in July showed that “Scotland has a similar or better share of bathing and surface water sites that meet good or excellent standards for water quality”.

Logan said: “This is an utter embarrassment for Steve Reed in what was a completely transparent attempt to undermine the good name of Scotland’s world-renowned water supply.

“Sewage Steve took to social media and to the broadcast sofas to slander Scotland’s water, but these fresh revelations mean it’s time for him to treat the independent stats body with respect and come clean on his wild accusations.”