UK politics: minister cites ‘strict spending controls’ amid calls to scrap two-child benefit cap – as it happened

Environment secretary Steve Reed says Labour must stabilise the economy after 14 years of Conservative chaos'

On water bills, consumer council for Water chief executive Mike Keil has said:

Millions of people will feel upset and anxious at the prospect of these water bill rises and question the fairness of them given some water companies' track record of failure and poor service.

Over the summer we'll be carrying out research with customers of every water company to gauge whether they feel the regulator's proposals are affordable and deliver what people want. We expect Ofwat to listen and act on what customers tell us.

We look forward to working with the government. The Environment Agency has criminal power to take action against companies. We think there's a strong case for extending that to company senior leadership. We look forward to working with the government as they work through their special measures package.

We will never look the other way while water companies pump sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. This unacceptable destruction of our waterways should never have been allowed, but change has now begun so it can never happen again.

Today I have announced significant steps to clean up the water industry to cut sewage pollution, protect customers and attract investment to upgrade its crumbling infrastructure. That change will take time. Over the coming weeks and months, this Government will outline further steps to reform the water sector and restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.