Water company bosses could face prison time in new crackdown
Water company bosses could face up to two years in prison and be banned from taking bonuses under the new government’s first major proposals to crack down on England’s sewage, chemical and manure infested waterways.
The new Water (Special Measures) Bill is designed to beef up feeble regulators so they can take on water companies releasing sewage into rivers, lakes and seas and appease public fury.
Although many topline measures had already been announced, the new details have been cautiously welcomed by green groups as an “important first step” towards cleaning up the country’s filthy rivers, lakes and seas.
But they say there is a long way to go given many other problems with the waterways, and the government acknowledged the need for “wider reform”.
What would the new water bill do?
The bill, which could come into effect in the new year, would increase fines and could see water executives who fail to cooperate or obstruct investigations, such as being slow to provide data, thrown in jail for up to two years.
Existing legislation does already allow bosses to face prison for other offences, but none have been successfully prosecuted despite “widespread illegality”, according to the government.
The Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “The public are furious that in 21st century Britain, record levels of sewage are being pumped into our rivers, lakes and seas. After years of neglect, our waterways are now in an unacceptable state.”
File pic: Reuters
He added: “Under this government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth.”
Ofwat will also be allowed to ban water bosses’ bonuses if they breach standards on the environment, their consumers and company finances – although the system is yet to be designed.
Severn Trent chief Liz Garfield this year won a £584,000 bonus, despite the company being fined £2m for “reckless” sewage spills in the River Trent.
The bill will also see monitoring of every sewage overflow and the reporting of discharges in real time, with data made available to the public who might want to swim or surf in that water.
Although virtually all of England’s 14,000 storm overflows are monitored for discharges of sewage into waterways often due to heavy rain, most of the additional 7,000 emergency overflows, which release sewage due to system failures like power outages, are currently not checked.
The Environment Agency will be allowed to recover the costs of investigations from water firms, in a bid to restore the resourcing and expertise to the regulator that has been hollowed out in the last decade.
As funding was cut by half between 2009-2019, enforcement actions plummeted and thousands of staff left, along with their expertise tackling water problems, though the previous prime minister, Rishi Sunak, did restore some resources in February.
Decades of underinvestment and water companies are only part of the problem.
A growing population, more extreme weather caused by climate change, farming pollution and cuts to the watchdogs have combined to leave waterways in a dire state.
Just 14% of England’s rivers and lakes are in good ecological health.
Signs are warning people no to go in the sea
How have green groups and industry reacted?
Shaun Spiers, executive director of thintank Green Alliance, said: “This is a useful first step and will address the public’s concerns about inadequate regulation of polluting water companies.”
But working out how to pay for all the upgrades, changes, and climate and nature measures is a “more profound challenge”, he said.
Ofwat recently blocked water companies from hiking bills by any more than £94 over the next five years, a third less than they had proposed.
This is money they say they need to fix the problems, and which Labour could really do with, given the limited public finances to pay for infrastructure and nature and climate commitments.
James Wallace, chief executive of River Action UK, said he is pleased the new government is “taking seriously this dreadful blight on our rivers caused by pollution, and this is an important first step”.
But he called for an “urgent review” of the regulators.
“Talking about CEO bonuses is not going to sort things out. What we really need to see is a regulator, the Environment Agency, with its teeth given back and its funding given back,” he said.
“You can’t enforce these laws without effective regulators.”
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The environment department hinted at further action on the regulators – but would not commit to timeframes.
The government is aiming for a “wider reform to fix the broken water system” over this parliament, Steve Reed said, including boosting infrastructure upgrades and ensuring the water industry is still attractive to investors.
A Water UK spokesperson said: “We agree with the government that the water system is not working. Fixing it requires the government to deliver the two things which it has promised: fundamental regulatory reform and speeding up investment.
“Ofwat needs to back our £105bn investment plan in full to secure our water supplies, enable economic growth and end sewage spilling into our rivers and seas.”
GD Culture Group (GDC), a Nasdaq-listed holding company focused on livestreaming, e-commerce and artificial intelligence-powered digital human technology, plans to raise up to $300 million for a cryptocurrency treasury reserve.
In a May 12 statement, GDC and its subsidiary, AI Catalysis, announced entering into a common stock purchase agreement with a British Virgin Islands limited liability company to sell up to $300 million of its common stock.
The proceeds from the stock sale will be used to fund the firm’s crypto treasury, which will include purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) and the Official Trump (TRUMP) token.
“Under this initiative, and subject to certain limitations, GDC intends to allocate a significant portion of the proceeds from any share sales under the facility to the acquisition, long-term holding, and integration of crypto assets into its core treasury operations,” the company said in the announcement.
GDC described the strategy as a move to align with the broader “decentralization transformation.”
Founded in 2016, GDC is a micro-cap company with a current $34 million market capitalization, according to Nasdaq data.
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GDC’s chairman and CEO, Xiaojian Wang, said the initiative builds on the company’s strengths in digital technologies and positions it for a blockchain-powered industrial shift.
“GDC’s adoption of crypto assets as treasury reserve holdings is a deliberate strategy that reflects both current industry trends and our unique strengths in digital technologies and the livestreaming e-commerce ecosystem,” Wang said.
The stock offering was announced over a month after the firm received a noncompliance warning from Nasdaq related to its stockholders’ equity. The notice indicated that the firm reported stockholders’ equity of only $2,643, well below the minimum requirement of $2.5 million.
The firm was given until May 4 to submit a plan to comply with the listing requirements. If accepted by Nasdaq, the compliance plan will allow up to 180 days from the notification period to comply with the requirements.
The Nevada-based company joins a small but growing group of public firms that are allocating part of their balance sheets to crypto assets.
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Trump token dinner planned for top holders
GDC’s announcement coincides with an upcoming high-profile event tied to the Trump token project. The 25 largest holders of TRUMP tokens are set to attend a private dinner at the White House on May 22.
However, the TRUMP memecoin project said in a May 12 X post that it has stopped considering additional purchases for the dinner and that the attendees had been notified to apply for background checks.
According to data provided on the project’s leaderboard, the top 220 wallets held more than 13.7 million tokens as of May 12, worth about $174 million at the time of publication.
Some US lawmakers have criticized the dinner. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis reportedly said that the idea of the US president offering exclusive access for people willing to pay “gives [her] pause.”
Crypto regulation experts also fear that the Trump family’s crypto endeavors may trigger more regulatory scrutiny by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as politically affiliated memecoins introduce a new challenge for crypto legislation.
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A 21-year-old man has been arrested over a series of arson attacks, police have said, after a fire at a house owned by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The suspect was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, according to the Metropolitan Police.
He remains in custody.
Emergency services were called to fires at the doors of two homes in north London within 24 hours of each other – one just after 1.35am on Monday in Kentish Town and the other on Sunday in Islington. Both properties are linked to Sir Keir.
Police are investigating links to several fires, which they are treating as suspicious. Pic: LNP
Detectives were also checking a vehicle fire last Thursday on the same street as the Kentish Town property to see whether it is connected.
Part of the area was cordoned off as police and London Fire Brigade (LFB) investigators examined the scene.
Neighbours described hearing a loud bang and said police officers were looking for a projectile.
Emergency services were deployed to the scene in Kentish Town, north London, on Monday. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
The prime minister is understood to still own the home, which was damaged by fire on Monday, but nobody was hurt. Pictures showed scorching at the entrance to the property.
Sir Keir used to live there before he and his family moved into 10 Downing Street after Labour won last year’s general election. It is believed the property is being rented out.
In the early hours of Sunday, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house converted into flats in nearby Islington, which is also linked to the prime minister.
Counter-terror police are leading the investigation. Pic: LNP
In a statement, police said: “As a precaution and due to the property having previous connections with a high-profile public figure, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are leading the investigation into this fire.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish what caused it. All three fires are being treated as suspicious at this time, and enquiries remain ongoing.”
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I can only say that the prime minister thanks the emergency services for their work and it is subject to a live investigation. So I can’t comment any further.”
Kemi Badenoch has condemned the suspected arson attacks.
Writing on X, the Conservative leader said: “This is a shocking incident. My thoughts are with the prime minister and his family. No one should face these sorts of threats, let alone people in public service.
“It’s an attack on our democracy and must never be tolerated.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News on Tuesday: “It’s important that the prime minister and anyone in public life has their family, their homes, protected.
“It is absolutely wrong, disgraceful, for any individual to take the kind of action that we saw against the prime minister’s home.”
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed two key cryptocurrency-related bills that aimed to expand the state’s involvement in digital assets while signing a strict regulatory measure targeting Bitcoin ATMs.
On May 12, Hobbs rejected Senate Bill 1373, which sought to establish a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund. The fund would have allowed Arizona to hold crypto assets obtained through seizures or legislative allocations.
“Current volatility in cryptocurrency markets does not make a prudent fit for general fund dollars,” she stated in her veto letter. “I have already signed legislation this session which allows the state to utilize cryptocurrency without placing general fund dollars at risk,” she added.
That decision followed her veto of Senate Bill 1025 — the more ambitious “Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act” — on May 3. It would have authorized up to 10% of the state’s treasury and retirement funds to be invested in Bitcoin and other digital assets.
According to data from bitcoinlaws.io, 26 US states have introduced strategic crypto reserve bills, with 18 of them currently active.
Hobbs also vetoed Senate Bill 1024, which would have permitted state agencies to accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes, fines and fees via approved service providers.
Although the proposal attempted to shield the state from direct exposure to price volatility, Hobbs said it still introduced “too much risk.”
Related: Taiwan lawmaker calls for Bitcoin reserve at national conference
Hobbs approves Bitcoin ATM bill
On May 12, Hobbs approved House Bill 2387, which introduces new consumer protection rules for cryptocurrency kiosk (ATM) operators, aiming to reduce fraud and improve transparency.
The bill mandates that kiosks display clear, multilingual warnings about common crypto scams and require users to acknowledge these risks before completing transactions. Operators must also provide detailed receipts that include transaction data, contact information, fees and refund policies.
Furthermore, the bill caps transactions at $2,000 per day for new customers and $10,500 per day for returning users after 10 days. Kiosk providers must also offer 24/7 toll-free customer service and post the number visibly on each machine.
Under the bill, if a new user is tricked into sending crypto under false pretenses and reports it with proof within 30 days, they are entitled to a full refund, including fees.
According to CoinATMRadar, there are currently 20 active Bitcoin ATMs in Arizona.
Notably, Hobbs has not entirely closed the door on digital assets. On Wednesday, she signed House Bill 2749, which updates Arizona’s unclaimed property laws to include digital assets.
The legislation allows the state to retain unclaimed cryptocurrencies in their original form rather than liquidating them into fiat currency.
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