Environment Secretary Steve Reed to face questions on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

BBC News

4 days ago

Update:
Date: 08:59 BST
Title: And we're off!
Content: The guests have all arrived, Kuenssberg is in the studio, and the show is about to begin.
We'll bring you the key lines and moments throughout the morning right here, and you can follow along and Watch Live at the top of this page.
Update:
Date: 08:54 BST
Title: Who's on today's show?
Content: As we approach 09:00, let's look at today's full guestlist.
It's Environment Secretary Steve Reed in the hot seat.
He's likely to face questions on water pollution, after the Environment Agency released data showing serious incidents had risen by 60% in the past year - find more details on that in our previous post.
Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will also be on the programme.
As always, we'll also be hearing from the panel, which today features:
Update:
Date: 08:41 BST
Title: 'Underinvestment and weak regulation' in England's waterways - environment secretary
Content: Environment Secretary Steve Reed is likely to be grilled on the state of England's waterways after he pledged to halve the number of times sewage is discharged by water companies by 2030.
It comes after data published by the Environment Agency showed 2,801 pollution incidents in England last year, the highest on record.
Of these, 75 were considered to pose "serious or persistent" harm to fisheries, drinking water and human health.
Reed said families had "watched their local rivers, coastlines and lakes suffer from record levels of pollution".
Every year, the Environment Agency records the number of times pollution such as untreated sewage is released from water company sites such as treatment works into the country's waterways.
Just three companies – Thames Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water – were responsible for the vast majority of the most serious examples in 2024.
The data comes ahead of a landmark review of the water industry, due to be published tomorrow.
Update:
Date: 08:32 BST
Title: The prime minister's authority is in question again
Content: Laura KuenssbergPresenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Who is in charge? You might think the answer should be obvious.
"This government should be walking on water, there should be nothing it can't do," a Whitehall insider suggests, given the rows and rows and rows - and yes, rows - of Labour MPs who line up behind the prime minister every Wednesday.
But, by booting out a small band of backbenchers this week, Sir Keir Starmer's put the question of his authority back on the table. Answering the question of who is in charge isn't so simple after all.
This government has a "backbench they - and we - are surprised to discover they can't control," says one senior official.
The financial markets are breathing down its neck, with the country's debts sky high, and for good measure, what a No 10 source describes as a "deep current of instability" around the world.
Starmer's next one-to-one meeting with President Donald Trump is a case in point – who knows what he will or won't say alongside the prime minister on Scottish soil next week?
No-one in government can be sure how that is going to shake down, although I was very definitively told we will not be seeing Starmer swinging a club with his transatlantic pal.
It is, of course, impossible for any administration to be the master of all it surveys. But convincingly displaying authority, inhabiting its power, is a different task.
And neither all of Starmer's MPs, nor all of the people inside the government are sure it's being met.
Update:
Date: 08:21 BST
Title: Labour suspends Diane Abbott for second time in two years
Content: Labour MP Diane Abbott, the longest-serving female MP in Parliament, has also been suspended from the party this week over comments she made about racism.
Labour has launched an investigation into Abbott's defence of a 2023 letter to a newspaper, , externalin which she said people of colour experienced racism "all their lives", which was different from the "prejudice" experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.
She apologised for those remarks at the time following criticism from Jewish and Traveller groups and was readmitted to the party after a one-year suspension.
Asked by the BBC's James Naughtie if she looked back on the whole incident with regret, she said: "No, not at all."
In a brief statement issued to BBC Newsnight, Abbott said: "My comments in the interview with James Naughtie were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept."
Update:
Date: 08:12 BST
Title: Why did Keir Starmer suspend four Labour MPs this week?
Content: Earlier this week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer suspended four MPs from Labour over repeated breaches of party discipline.
Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell have had the party whip removed, meaning they will sit as independents in the House of Commons.
This comes after dozens of Labour MPs - including the now suspended MPs - rebelled against Downing Street's proposed cuts to welfare earlier in the year, forcing the government to pass a watered-down version of its plans this month.
The MP for York Central, Maskell, was a key figure in organising the rebellion against the welfare bill - calling them "Dickensian cuts" - and said this was behind her suspension.
She told the BBC she had a duty to speak up for those who elected her.
"I don't see myself as a rebel," she said. "But I'm not afraid to speak up about whatever is in my constituents' interests."
Update:
Date: 08:05 BST
Title: A busy week in Westminster: A brief overview of the main headlines
Content:
Update:
Date: 08:00 BST
Title: Environment secretary to be grilled in jam-packed last show
Content: Welcome to our live coverage of this week's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
It is a jam-packed programme - the last before the summer break - with Environment Secretary Steve Reed, shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, and Reform UK's Nigel Farage on the show.
It's been a busy week in politics so we can expect lively debate on some of these topics:
You can watch the show here by clicking Watch Live at the top of the page from 09:00 BST.
We'll also be bringing you text updates throughout the programme - so stick with us.