Judith hosts cross-party meeting to hold Yorkshire Water to account
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
A cross-party meeting of Bradford's MPs, organised by Judith Cummins MP (Bradford South) tore a strip off Yorkshire Water's chief executive and chair over its dismal performance, incompetence and attempts to evade public scrutiny. Pointing out the “double speak” delivered by the company’s senior leadership, Judith asked for “contrition and not platitudes” when it came to “the utter lack of transparency, and abysmal environmental, water and stakeholder performance.”
The meeting follows Yorkshire Water’s decision not to consult Bradford’s MPs on a decision to move its headquarters from Bradford to Leeds, a choice which MPs at the meeting described as “naïve at best, incompetent at worst.”
“The lack of consultation is unacceptable,” said Judith, “Senior leadership chose not to consult with me, other MPs or the Council, and I was told that this was so I wasn’t ‘inculcated’ in the decision. This is nonsense.”
The decision to move takes 1300 jobs out of Bradford. The Council and local MPs were simply informed of the decision after the decision was taken, with the Bradford MPs arguing that consultation with the Council could have helped retain jobs in the area, by supporting efforts to identify alternative offices to those in Buttershaw.
Criticism of the move comes shortly after a catalogue of failures by the company were outlined by the Environment Agency’s Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) report published in October 2025, that saw the company given a ‘red flag rating’ following a tripling of serious pollution incidents in 2024. Yorkshire Water were also fined £40m by OfWat, the water services regulator, for wastewater and sewage failures.
Due to these environmental failures, Yorkshire Water was one of six firms banned from paying bonuses to management, and yet its chief executive was still paid an additional £1.3m by parent company Kelda Holdings. Ms Murray and Ms Shaw offered no apologies for this in the meeting, with Bradford West MP Naz Shah commenting that the decision not to call it a bonus “insulted their intelligence.”
Meanwhile, Yorkshire Water is proposing to increase water bills for customers by over 40% between 2025 and 2030.
Bradford District MPs called on Yorkshire Water leadership to take meaningful action to address their organisational failures, by committing to long-term investment in the Bradford District, along with increased communication and greater transparency to ensure they begin to deliver an effective service for people in Bradford District and the wider region.
Judith said: “Residents across Bradford and Yorkshire continue to be let down by Yorkshire Water’s catalogue of failures. My constituents are facing soaring water bills and leaking pipes, and an unacceptable level of serious pollution incidents.
The five MPs were united in calling out this failure. Yorkshire Water has failed our constituents time and time again. They must do better.”
Robbie Moore MP (Keighley and Ilkley) said:
“It is disgraceful that Yorkshire Water did not have the basic courtesy of engaging with local Members of Parliament about the relocation of their headquarters outside of the Bradford District. As one of the major employers within the district, they should have reached out three years ago rather than telling us once the plans had been signed off.
But there is a pattern here, because what we are seeing across my constituency is a lack of engagement with residents during substantial construction works taking place right now. Take Providence Crescent in Oakworth, which is now running beyond schedule and has been causing huge disruption since November last year. Yorkshire Water didn’t even have the decency to update residents or representatives there.
And that’s all on top of the recent deception about bonuses and water bosses’ pay.”
Anna Dixon MP (Shipley) said:
“It was good to raise directly with the leadership of Yorkshire Water the anger of my constituents regarding their rising water bills and the extra £1.3 million in pay the CEO has received since 2023.
“While they say they are committed to transparency, that does not make up for past mistakes and ongoing poor performance, and I will continue to press Yorkshire Water on these issues strongly.”
Imran Hussain MP (Bradford East) said:
“I raised serious concerns with Yorkshire Water at our recent meeting. Frankly the answers received were not satisfactory. Stakeholders were given no meaningful consultation about the decision to move jobs to Leeds, which shows a real lack of respect for the workforce. At the same time, the company continues to hand out outrageous bonuses while customers face rising bills. That simply isn’t acceptable, and I will continue to hold Yorkshire Water to account on behalf of Bradford residents.”
Naz Shah (Bradford West) said:
“I remain deeply concerned about the culture and leadership at Yorkshire Water and instead of feeling reassured during this meeting, those concerns have deepened.”