MPs accuse Yorkshire Water bosses of 'insulting their intelligence'
MPs have accused Yorkshire Water’s boss of “insulting their intelligence” by refusing to call £1.3m in payments from the firm’s off-shore parent company, on top of her regular salary, a bonus.
A cross-party group of five MPs representing the Bradford district demanded accountability from chief executive Nicola Shaw and chair Vanda Murray over the company’s poor pollution record.
In a meeting in Parliament, Bradford South’s Judith Cummings asked the bosses for “contrition and not platitudes” when it comes to “the utter lack of transparency, and abysmal environmental, water and stakeholder performance”.
It is understood that afterwards several MPs came out more frustrated than they were at the start.
Bradford West’s Naz Shah 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.”
The meeting was called in the context of the company’s poor performance, after it was recently given a red rating by the Environment Agency for serious pollution incidents.
Yet customers’ bills are set to rise by 40 per cent between 2025 and 2030.
Meanwhile, Ms Shaw has raked in remuneration of £3m over the last two financial years. This includes her main salary, a bonus in 2024 and two £660,000 payments from Yorkshire Water’s parent company, Kelda Holdings, which is based in Jersey.
Yorkshire Water has consistently denied the payments were bonuses, instead saying they were fees for stakeholder management. In the meeting, Ms Shah said this “insulted their intelligence”.
Shipley MP Anna Dixon commented: “While they say they are committed to transparency, that does not make up for past mistakes and ongoing poor performance.”
The group also raised concerns about Yorkshire Water moving its headquarters from Buttershaw in Bradford to the outskirts of Leeds without any consultation of MPs or the council.
Keighley and Ilkley’s Robbie Moore 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.”
Bradford East MP Imran Hussain said: “Frankly the answers received were not satisfactory.”
Ms Shaw said: “The meeting with Bradford MPs this week was a welcome opportunity to understand their views on a range of issues where they have concerns.
“We value the skills the people of Bradford bring to our organisation. We employ 1,640 Bradford residents across the company, and 25 per cent of the 1,100 new jobs we’ve recruited for this year have gone to people who live here.
“Although we are relocating our support centre to Leeds this summer, we are absolutely committed to creating apprenticeships and employment opportunities for people across Bradford and supporting existing colleagues with the move.”