Local MP Huw Merriman raised the plight of thousands of residents who have lost power and water supplies due to Storm Eunice in the House of Commons Chamber. He asked for a meeting with the Energy and Business Secretary to discuss how they can ensure that water companies have back-up generators so water continues to run to homes when storms damage power. 

Huw Merriman MP: 

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. Thousands of my constituents and others across East Sussex remain not only without electricity but without water. I recognise this is one of the worst storms in decades, and I also recognise the huge amount of work delivered on the ground by the engineers at UK Power Networks and South East Water to try to fix this, but our water supply requires the electricity system to work and it is not good enough that there are no back-up generators in place for the water to be pumped into the hills and other areas across my constituency. May I meet the Secretary of State to discuss how we can have better resilience, with the water companies having their own back-up generators so that people are not without water when the electricity goes down?

Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: 

My hon. Friend makes a fair point, and he is right to point out the intolerable difficulties that people face with regard to the water supply. Colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and officials in BEIS are very engaged with this, and I would be happy to speak to him at a convenient time.