Harrogate and Knaresborough's MP is calling for a ban on water bosses’ bonuses and shareholder payouts until all infrastructure is upgraded and no more sewage is dumped.

Tom Gordon has called the refusal by Yorkshire Water’s boss Nicola Shaw’s to hand back her £370,000 bonus on BBC Politics North earlier this week as “tone deaf”.

The Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough has been calling for the utility firm’s CEO to hand back her bonus since she received it in the summer.

In that time, Yorkshire Water has been fined by Ofwat for sewage dumping, come under fire for failing to deal with customer complaints, and continued to dump sewage, all while paying out a £371,000 bonus to their CEO, and requesting a large increase in customer bills over the next year.

Tom Gordon, Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough has been calling for Yorkshire Water’s CEO to hand back her bonus since she received it in the summer. (Picture contributed)

placeholder image — Tom Gordon, Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough has been calling for Yorkshire Water’s CEO to hand back her bonus since she received it in the summer. (Picture contributed)

Just last week, it was revealed that a third of customers’ bills to Yorkshire Water go on servicing debt and paying dividends.

On BBC Politics North, Nicola Shaw was asked whether she would hand back her bonus. She refused, claiming that the money came from profits that would otherwise have been paid out to shareholders.

Mr Gordon argues this argument is undermined by the fact Yorkshire Water has a £6.2 billion debt, and large amounts of infrastructure that requires upgrading.

“This is quite frankly tone deaf, ”said the Harrogate MP, “given the mountain of debt and amount of infrastructure upgrades required.

"Ultimately, income comes from billpayers, so I feel Nicola Shaw’s words are misleading.

“Yorkshire Water has seen continuous sewage discharges, had to pay tens of millions in fines, all whilst hiking up costs on consumers and paying out to shareholders and bosses.

"We must ban water bosses’ bonuses and shareholder payouts now, until all infrastructure is upgraded and no more sewage is being dumped.”

This week has also seen Tom Gordon launch his new website at https://www.tomgordon.org.uk

The website features news articles about everything the MP has done since his election in July, and also allows constituents to sign up to receive his newsletter.

It also has contact details for Mr Gordon and links to his social media.